• Trudeau says ‘snowball’s chance in hell’ of Canada’s merger with US
• Mexican president says Trump ‘living in the past’; Panama asserts sovereignty over canal

PARIS: US president-elect Donald Trump’s ambitious announcements regarding Greenland, the Panama Canal, Gulf of Mexico and Canada a day earlier drew sharp reactions from the leadership of the territories concerned, on Wednesday.

While addressing a press conference in Florida on Tuesday, Trump refused to rule out military intervention over the Panama Canal and Greenland, both of which he said he wants the US to control.

The billionaire also announced he was going to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” and floated the idea of turning Canada into a US state.

Asked if he would use military force to bring Canada to heel, he said “no — economic force,” but added that eliminating the “artificially drawn” US-Canada border would be a boon to national security.

France and Germany warned Trump against threatening “sovereign borders” after he refused to rule out military action to take Greenland, an autonomous territory of European Union member Denmark.

“There is no question of the EU letting other nations in the world, whoever they may be […] attack its sovereign borders,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told France Inter radio.

Barrot described Greenland as “European territory”. Greenland is associated with the European Union through Denmark, of which it is a self-governing territory, but withdrew from the European bloc in 1985 after securing autonomy.

“If you ask me: ‘Is the United States going to invade Greenland?’ the answer is no,” said Barrot.

In Berlin, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said that “as always, the firm principle applies […] that borders must not be moved by force”.

The “Gulf of Mexico” name is internationally recognised, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in response to Trump’s comments about renaming the body of water. Trump had argued in favour of renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America”. Sheinbaum then took jabs at Trump, saying he was living in the past.

“I think they told President (elect) Trump wrong, they told him Felipe Calderon is still president,” Sheinbaum said. Calderon led Mexico from 2006 to 2012. “But no, in Mexico the people are in charge,” she added.

In a press conference, Sheinbaum showed a map of Mexico’s former size, which includes land now part of the US. “Mexican America, that sounds nice,” she said.

In Copenhagen, Denmark’s foreign minister said they were open to talks with Washington to safeguard US interests in the Arctic.

The Danish Realm — which includes Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands — is “open to a dialogue with the Americans on how we can cooperate, possibly even more closely than we already do”, Lars Lokke Rasmussen said

There is a “snowball’s chance in hell” that Canada will merge with the United States, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded.

Panama’s Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha meanwhile said “the sovereignty of our canal is not negotiable.”

Built by the US, the Panama Canal was handed to the Central American country a quarter-century ago.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2025