Marc-William Palen
History Department, University of Exeter

A US presidential inauguration special, here are this week’s top picks in imperial and global history.

---

Trump, the ‘America First’ candidate, has a new preoccupation: Imperialism

Jill Colvin and Rob Gillies
Associated Press

Donald Trump ran on a return to his “America First” foreign policy platform. The U.S., he said, could no longer afford to be the world’s policeman. On his watch, he pledged, there would be no new wars. But since winning a second term, the president-elect has been embracing a new imperialist agenda, threatening to seize the Panama Canal and Greenland — perhaps by military force — and saying he will use economic coercion to pressure Canada to become the nation’s 51st state.

“Canada and the United States, that would really be something. You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like and it would also be much better for national security,” Trump said of the world’s longest international border and the U.S.’s second-largest trade partner. [continue reading]

The Panama Canal Could Be the Thing That Unifies Donald Trump’s Supporters

Aaron Coy Moulton
Time ‘Made by History’

For close to a month, President-elect Donald Trump has warned that the Panamanian government needs to reduce the shipping rates and fees placed on U.S.-based vessels going through the Panama Canal, unless it wants the U.S. to take back the canal. At a gathering for the conservative Turning Point USA organization on Dec. 22, Trump proclaimed, “We’re being ripped off at the Panama Canal like we’re being ripped off everywhere else.” He then insinuated that the Canal could fall into the “wrong hands” — China’s. Immediately after, Trump posted on Truth Social, “Welcome to the United States Canal!” with an AI-generated image of a U.S. flag missing two of its 13 stripes.

Trump also has mused about making Canada the 51st state and acquiring Greenland. His expansionist focus has sparked a media fervor. Some have wondered if Trump’s business interests might be driving the President-elect’s thinking. But such speculation fails to account for the potential political boost that Trump might get from talking tough on the Panama Canal. [continue reading]

Donald Trump’s 21st-Century Colonialism

John Nichols
Nation

Donald Trump dispatched his son Don Jr. on a bizarre real-estate reconnaissance mission Tuesday. The president-elect, who made his name as a developer of “properties” in Manhattan and Atlantic City before business setbacks and controversies steered him toward a steadier career as a reality-TV billionaire, is obsessed with making Greenland a part of the United States—either by purchase or, as Trump suggested in a televised press conference on the same day as his son’s Arctic adventure, by force. So Trump Jr. was dispatched, like some 18th-century prince, to check out the world’s largest non-continental island on behalf of the king.

The trip came amid rising tensions over Trump’s obsession with what CNN refers to as “imperialistic land grabs,” an obsession that in recent months has led him to speculate about adding Greenland, the Panama Canal, and Canada to the United States. Trump’s refusal to rule out the use of force brought quick rebukes from French and German leaders, with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot going so far as to say, “There is no question of the European Union letting other nations in the world, whoever they may be, attack its sovereign borders.” Barrot told French media that he didn’t believe the United States would actually seize Greenland, but he warned that “we have entered an era that is seeing the return of the law of the strongest.” And a new era of imperial tourism, with an eye toward forging empires, appears to have opened. [continue reading]

Trump’s threats to Greenland, Canada and Panama explain everything about America First

Stephen Collinson
CNN

Donald Trump’s imperialist designs on Greenland, Canada and Panama often sound like the ramblings of a real estate shark who equates foreign and trade policy to a hunt for new deals. But there’s method in his expansionist mindset. Trump, in his unique way, is grappling with national security questions the US must face in a new world shaped by China’s rise, the inequalities of globalization, melting polar ice and great power instability. His attitude also embodies the “America First” principle of using US strength to relentlessly pursue narrow national interests, even by coercing smaller, allied powers.

Trump’s musings about terminating the Panama Canal Treaty especially show the preoccupation of the new administration with the encroachment of foreign powers into the Western Hemisphere. This isn’t a new concern — it’s been a constant thread in American history, dating back to the Monroe Doctrine in the 1820s when European colonialists were the threat. The issue endured through the communist scares of the Cold War. Today’s usurpers are China, Russia and Iran. [continue reading]

Trump’s Greenland bid stirs debate in China about what to do with Taiwan

Antoni Slodkowski and James Pomfret
Reuters

For years, the U.S. government has urged China to show “restraint” in pushing its claim on Taiwan and to drop military threats to bring the democratically governed island under its control. Now – some Chinese commentators say – the power of that long-held U.S. message has been undermined by the threats by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal, by force if necessary. Trump takes office on Jan. 20.The implications of Trump’s comments for U.S. policy on Taiwan have been widely discussed on China’s social media platforms in recent days and by foreign policy analysts.

While nothing in the military standoff over Taiwan is likely to change in the near-term, some say Trump’s break with the norms of American diplomacy could create an opening for China. One Chinese expert said Trump’s first term in office signalled that he views foreign policy as transactional in nature, and suggested he may be amenable to a deal on Taiwan. [continue reading]