Why are President Donald Trump and his national security team focused on Panama and Greenland?
Donald Trump understands that modern threats – China’s predatory mercantilism and its massive military buildup, including the ability to destroy our reconnaissance satellites in orbit – requires an urgent reinvigoration of the 200-year-old Monroe Doctrine.
The Monroe Doctrine, America’s fundamental national security imperative, seeks to exclude outside powers from the Western Hemisphere. It is key to protecting the U.S. and our neighbors from China’s malicious designs.
Trump understands that Greenland and Panama aren’t merely the key in any potential conflict with China, they are key to deterring China from conflict in the first place.
During WWII and the Cold War, prior to the advent of near-global real-time overhead satellite coverage, America maintained forward bases in a string from Hawaii to Alaska to Canada to Greenland to Puerto Rico to Panama. These bases hosted naval assets, electronic listening posts, early warning radars and airfields for patrol aircraft.
The forward presence not only protected the American heartland, but it also served to guard the sea lanes needed for trade and to support our allies in Europe and Asia.
Trump recognizes the shifting geopolitical landscape, with China’s rise posing a new challenge to U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere – and a secure homeland. In 2019, he expressed interest in purchasing Greenland from Denmark, citing its vast natural resources and strategic Arctic location. This is more relevant than ever, with the Northwest Passage becoming increasingly accessible due in part to Russia and China’s rapidly growing heavy icebreaker fleet.
