 "US President Donald Trump. (Photo: Reuters)")
In his first address to the joint session of Congress in the second term, US President Donald Trump doubled down on his expansionist agenda and said the annexation of Denmark’s Greenland is just a matter of time.
Trump implied that If the island were to not join the United States on their own, then an armed invasion stays on the table.
Since winning the 2024 presidential election, Trump has pursued an expansionist agenda where he has sought to annex territories, including entire nations, across Canada. He has sought to annex Canada and make it the 51st US state, annex Greenland island, annex Panama Canal, and annex Gaza Strip where he has committed the United States to expelling all the natives in what essentially amounts to ethnic cleansing.
In his speech on Tuesday, Trump said that Greenland would be welcomed into the United States “if you choose” and added moments later that “I think we’re going to get it one way or the other. We’re going to get it”.
Previously, Trump has said that he is up for the use for force to annex Greenland and Panama Canal. In January, when he was asked if he would rule out the use of force to subjugate Greenland, Trump had refused to rule out the use of force.
“I’m not going to commit to that. It might be that you’ll have to do something. The Panama Canal is vital to our country. We need Greenland for national security purposes,” said Trump at the time.
Even though Trump campaigned on an isolationist platform and has long criticised the involvement of US troops abroad, he has pursued an expansionist agenda since his election where he has been using economic coercion and the threat of invasion of foreign lands. These threats are being taken seriously. Denmark has announced two rounds of additional military spending to protect Greenland and the mainland from invasions and Canada has had a bipartisan condemnation of Trump’s plan.