Trump’s Greenland and Panama Canal Remarks Are ‘A Prescription for Chaos,’ Warns Tom Friedman
Trump greets supporters during a campaign event at the Rocky Mount Event Center. (Image Source: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
President-elect Donald Trump’s repeated assertions that the United States will purchase Greenland and take over the Panama Canal in his next administration carry serious consequences, according to New York Times columnist Tom Friedman. In an opinion piece published Monday, Friedman cautioned that Trump’s statements are far from harmless and have already caused damage.
“Trump’s remarks are reckless stupidity beyond belief,” Friedman wrote, emphasizing the impact of such rhetoric. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist argued that Trump’s ambitions to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal jeopardized the global order established after World War II.
“Some may think Trump’s remarks on taking Greenland and the Panama Canal are just a joke from an attention-seeking leader with no filter,” Friedman noted. “They are not a joke. They are a prescription for chaos.”
Friedman warned that Trump’s threats to seize territory could embolden adversaries such as China and Russia. Both nations, he argued, are closely observing Trump’s comments and might use them as justification for their own territorial ambitions.
“If the U.S. president can decide that he wants to seize Greenland and explicitly refuses to rule out the use of force to do so, that is like a giant permission slip for China to seize Taiwan, which has strong emotional, historical, linguistic, and national connections to mainland China,” Friedman wrote.
Similarly, Friedman questioned how the United States could maintain credibility in opposing Russia’s territorial aggression. “How can the U.S. tell Putin he’s violating international law by seizing another nation’s territory while Trump openly fantasizes about taking over Greenland and the Panama Canal and refuses to rule out using military force?”
The implications of Trump’s rhetoric are already being noticed globally. Friedman highlighted a statement from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary during an interview with CNBC, where he said Russia is “watching the rhetoric on these topics coming out of Washington with great interest.”
Friedman concluded his piece by underscoring the dangers of Trump’s statements, calling them reckless and destabilizing. For nations like China and Russia, Trump’s remarks serve as both a signal and an excuse to pursue their own controversial territorial ambitions, further threatening the fragile global order.
