Panama, Greenland lash out at Trump's latest push to 'reclaim' them, 'one way or another'
Trump is lying, says Panamanian president. 'Greenland is ours,' says its PM
It's safe to say U.S. President Donald Trump isn't exactly endearing himself to many foreign leaders these days.
In the last few days alone, he's clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and paused its U.S. military aid, launched a trade war with Canada, Mexico and China, and mocked Lesotho in his first speech to Congress, claiming "nobody has ever heard of" the country.
And in Trump's comments to Congress Tuesday, he reiterated his plans for Panama and Greenland, prompting swift pushback from the leaders of those countries.
"To further enhance our national security, my administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal," Trump said to rounds of applause. "The Panama Canal was built by Americans for Americans, not for others," he added.
Trump also made a direct appeal to Greenlanders a week before islanders head to the polls for parliamentary elections, saying he would, "welcome you into the United States of America." Then, he said his administration was "working with everybody involved to try to get it," referring to his wishes to acquire Greenland from Denmark, a longtime U.S. ally.
"We need it really for international world security. And I think we're going to get it. One way or the other, we're going to get it," Trump said.
Trump is lying: Panamanian president
Panama's president, Jose Raul Mulino, said Trump was "once again lying" in a post on X on Wednesday morning.
"I reject, on behalf of Panama and all Panamanians, this new affront to the truth and to our dignity as a nation," he wrote in Spanish.
"The Panama Canal is not in the process of being reclaimed ... the canal is Panamanian and will continue to be Panamanian!"
Trump's comments to Congress came after a deal led by U.S. firm BlackRock was announced earlier Tuesday to buy most of the $22.8 billion US ports business of Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison, which includes assets along the Panama Canal.
Mulino on Wednesday said that Trump's so-called "reclaiming" of the canal had not been part of discussions with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a recent visit or with any other U.S. official.
Daniel Fried, the Weiser Family distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council and former U.S. assistant secretary of state for Europe, wrote on the Atlantic Council website Wednesday that Trump's comments could be considered "hopeful" because at least he's not invading Panama.
"That's hopeful because it suggests that rather than invade Panama to seize the canal, Trump might call it a win if key canal-related infrastructure were in the United States rather than Chinese hands. That may be a rough way to achieve a good deal," Fried wrote.
'Greenland is ours'
Meanwhile, Greenland's prime minister declared Wednesday that "Greenland is ours" and cannot be taken or bought.
Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede said the island's citizens are neither American nor Danish because they are Greenlandic. The U.S. needs to understand that, he wrote in a post in Greenlandic and Danish on Facebook Wednesday, adding the future of Greenland will be decided by its people.
"We don't want to be Americans, nor Danes; We are Kalaallit. The Americans and their leader must understand that. We are not for sale and cannot simply be taken. Our future will be decided by us in Greenland," he wrote in the post.
Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland's minister for natural resources, equality, business and justice, told the Guardian that Trump's comments show a "fundamental lack of respect for us as a people, for our historical connection to these lands and for our democratic institutions."
"Hearing American legislators giggle over statements like 'We are gonna get it one way or the other' is disrespectful," she said, referring to the laughter in Congress — and from Vice-President JD Vance — when Trump said he had a message for the "people of Greenland."
"As an American, I'm deeply ashamed of my head of state, his party, and its weak opposition party. I hope you're able to gain Greenlandic independence and stave off my country's imperialist attempt at annexation," someone wrote in the comments of Egede's post.
Many in Greenland, a vast and mineral-rich island that is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, are worried and offended by Trump's threats to seize control of homeland.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, in an interview with broadcaster TV2, echoed Egede in repeating that Greenland is not for sale. She said that Denmark would like to hold onto its commonwealth, but it's a commonwealth that must be improved through equality and respect.
Last month, Frederiksen told reporters that "we have been very clear ... that everyone has to respect the sovereignty of all national states in the world, and that Greenland today is part of the Kingdom of Denmark."
"It's not for sale."
Fried, with the Atlantic Council, wrote that Trump repeated his threat to seize Greenland "shamefully and tellingly."
"The threat, with its nineteenth-century imperial style, advances no U.S. interest," he wrote, explaining that Denmark "has made clear it would be glad to accommodate the United States' military or commercial interests in Greenland."
"But that is not Trump's way: he prefers to grab and exert raw power."
Lesotho comments 'quite insulting'
As for Lesotho, the African country Trump joked "nobody has ever heard of," its foreign minister said his remark was "quite insulting."
"I'm really shocked that my country can be referred to like that by the head of state," Lejone Mpotjoane told Reuters.
Trump had been listing some of the foreign spending he saw as a "waste," including, "Eight million dollars to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of."
On Wednesday, the head of Lesotho's main 2SLGBTQ+ rights association denied it had ever received $8 million from the U.S.
"We are literally not receiving grants from the U.S.," People's Matrix spokesperson Tampose Mothopeng told AFP.
Meanwhile, someone who has definitely heard of Lesotho is billionaire Elon Musk, one of Trump's key advisers. Not only was was Musk born in South Africa, which surrounds Lesotho, but his Starlink internet satellite service has applied for a license to operate in Lesotho.
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With files from Reuters and The Associated Press