Since 1776, when the United States of America was founded, it has territorially expanded through conquests, purchases and treaties. President-elect Donald Trump’s recent statements on acquiring Canada, Greenland and Panama indicate the revival of the country’s traditional expansionist policy.
US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened Canada that it could be incorporated in the USA as the 51st State, if Canada does not yield to US demands on tariffs, border control and sharing of defence expenditure.
Trump has also threatened to take back control over the Panama Canal from Panama and reiterated his desire to annex the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland to ensure North America’s security.
These fanciful goals could well be bluff and bluster to unnerve his adversaries and give an edge to his determination to “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) by putting “America First” on all matters whether domestic or international. But Trump is an enigma. He could walk the talk, as he did in the case of Afghanistan from which he walked out to save money for America, though it fell to President Joe Biden to actually carry it out.
As of now, Trump says he intends to use only “economic force” abjuring military force to get the territories he wants. But that is small consolation for his adversaries and allies alike. They are flabbergasted because no US President has declared such intentions in recent memory, though the US has expanded through a variety of means in its 249-year history so far.
Canadian goods
Trump has threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on Canadian goods and had even commented on the possibility of the US annexing Canada and making it the 51st State of the US if Ottawa does not comply. A US tariff of 25 percent on Canadian exports could lead to a loss of at least one million jobs in Canada.
There are also security issues dividing Canada from the US. Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had told Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on November 30, that he would strengthen border security and stop opioid fentanyl and human trafficking across the US-Canada border. But progress on these has apparently been unsatisfactory. At the NATO summit in July 2024, Trudeau promised to increase Canadian defence spending to two percent of its GDP by 2032, but did not announce a plan to reach this target.
In June 2024, the Trudeau Government imposed a Digital Service Tax (DST) of three percent of revenues generated from Canadian users of foreign tech platforms and worse still, made it retroactive from 2022. US tech firms such as Apple, Meta and Microsoft were livid when this was known.
But adding Canada to the US is not as easy as it sounds. Canada is the world’s second biggest country after Russia, with 10 Provinces and three Territories. If Canada joins the US, the latter will be instantly saddled with 10 or even 13 new States. Many Americans will not like that idea along with an overwhelming majority of Canadians, most of whom dislike Trump. In fact, Trudeau flatly rejected Trump’s overtures, saying there is a “snowball’s chance in hell” of Canada joining its neighbour.
Trump told a Conservative conference in Arizona that Panama was charging US ships “ridiculous and highly unfair” fees to use the Panama Canal, which the US had built but turned over to Panama through Torrijos-Carter Treaties, which were ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1978. These treaties gave Panama eventual control of the eponymous Canal. This is believed to be one of the greatest accomplishments of former President Jimmy Carter, whose funeral was held last week. Trump has now told Panama to stop the “rip off” in the guise of fees or return the canal to the US.
The head of the Panama Canal Authority (PCA) said that Trump’s suggestion that US ships get preferential rates “will lead to chaos” and denied that China had any control over the operation. “We cannot discriminate for the Chinese, or the Americans, or anyone else. This will violate the neutrality treaty, international law and lead to chaos,” Ricaurte Vásquez Morales told the Wall Street Journal.
Trump also added that he did not want the canal to fall into “wrong hands” and identified the wrong hands as those of China which needs the waterway for its growing world trade. China is the second-largest user of the Panama Canal after the US and is also a huge investor in Panama. Indicating a growing Chinese influence, Panama cut diplomatic relations with Taiwan and recognised Beijing’s “One China” policy. This raised hackles in Washington, DC. It looked as if Central America might slip out of America’s hands, making nonsense of the “Monroe Doctrine” of keeping the American hemisphere under the US thumb.
But Panama’s President, José Raúl Mulino, has said that the canal and the surrounding area belongs to his country – and will remain so.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said that the US “feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity for reasons of national security and global freedom”. Presently, Greenland is an autonomous region of Denmark, but the US maintains the “Pituffik Space Base” there. Greenland is rich in natural resources such as Rare Earths and is in a strategic location for trade. Global Powers want to use the Arctic Circle for their shipping. Russia will view Trump’s plan to absorb Greenland as an existential threat to its security.
Trump had talked about “purchasing” Greenland when he was last in power in 2019, but did not follow up. Greenland Prime Minister Múte B Egede, has ridiculed Trump’s idea saying, “We are not for sale and we will not be for sale.”
Huge boost
Denmark has, however, expressed its willingness to work with the incoming Trump administration. But it has also announced a huge boost in defence spending on Greenland.
However, Trump is serious about his demands. Truth Social reportedly carried an image of an American flag being planted in the middle of the Panama Canal. His second son, Eric Trump, posted an image on X that showed the US adding Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada to an Amazon online shopping cart. Another of Trump’s sons actually visited Greenland in his father’s “Trump Force One” Boeing 757 to press the case.
Trump is trying to capitalise on the wish of some Greenlanders to throw off the Danish yoke. Some Geenlanders want to negotiate with the US for an arrangement which will ensure a special status for Greenland within a US security umbrella.
Since its founding in 1776, the US has grown exponentially from 864,746 square miles to 3,531,905 sq. miles through territorial acquisitions. The US acquired new territories in North America as well as islands overseas through secession, purchase, and occupation.
As of August 2021, the US controlled five unincorporated territories: Puerto Rico, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, the US Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. It also controlled nine minor outlying islands: Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Navassa Island, Johnston Atoll, Midway Islands, Palmyra Atoll, Wake Island, and Kingman Reef. None of these is a US State.
The US’ first and largest territorial acquisition was the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 for US$ 10 million. This practically doubled the area of the US. In 1867, the US purchased Alaska from Russia for US$ 7.2 million. Alaska is actually closer to Russia than to the contiguous US and one has to drive through Canada to reach it from the Lower 48 States.
This ended Russia’s presence in North America and gave the US access to the Pacific Ocean. The most expensive acquisition by purchase was of the US Virgin Islands for US$ 183,824 per square mile. The other half of this island is controlled by the UK.
In many of the islands acquired, the inhabitants have no full citizenship status. For example, residents of Guam cannot vote in Federal elections, but they do elect a delegate to the US House of Representatives, who serves for a term of two years and has limited voting rights.
American expansionism can be traced back to the very earliest times. Colonists expanded their control inward and waged wars against Native Americans to do so. After the US achieved Independence from Britain, it expanded westward through military conquest and the purchase of colonial territories. Even after reaching the Pacific Coast, the US looked to other new territories: most prominently the Caribbean and the Pacific, during and after the 1890s.
Manifest destiny
In the middle of the 19th century, American expansionism was legitimised by the notion of “Manifest Destiny” according to which, God had ordained the US to expand across the Continent. In 1848, the US won the Mexican-American War and seized control of the country’s Northern half. In the subsequent decades, the US waged wars to displace the indigenous peoples of these lands, pressing them into distant reservations.
However, this territorial expansion in North America led to violent political debates over slavery which ultimately led to the Civil War (1861-65) in which the Northern States’ anti-slavery faction won.
Many in the US believed in “the White Man’s Burden,” which argued that White culture and political systems were superior to others. Therefore, White-ruled countries such as the United States had a responsibility to “teach” others their ways. Hence the expansion.
Trump too has not ruled out military intervention, at least in the case of Greenland. A Danish MP in Copenhagen admitted that the US could take over Greenland just by sending a frigate to the Greenland coast along with a letter to the Danish Government.
But other countries with expansionist plans are keenly watching these developments, which may lead to a dangerous bout of military adventurism.
