The News
US allies used differing strategies to respond to aggressive foreign policy rhetoric from President-elect Donald Trump, ranging from denunciation to positivity.
On Tuesday, speaking at a press conference at his Mar-a Lago home in Florida, Trump refused to rule out seizing both the Panama Canal and the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland by force, threatened to absorb Canada into the US, and called for the Gulf of Mexico to be renamed the “Gulf of America.”
France’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that there was “no question of letting other nations in the world, whoever they may be, attack [the European Union’s] sovereign borders,” referencing Trump’s comments about Greenland.
SIGNALS
Trump’s bombast could backfire
Trump’s preference for speaking on the fly means it is difficult to distinguish bombast from genuine policy, but his comments on Greenland and the Panama Canal were likely an attempt to project an image of strength vis-a-vis the US’ geopolitical rivals, the BBC’s North America correspondent noted. Still, his “bullying of America’s friends” could easily backfire by hardening public opinion in those countries against the US, CNN argued. Outgoing Canadian leader Justin Trudeau said there was “not a snowball’s chance in hell” of his country merging with the US, while the prime minister of Denmark tried to put a positive frame on Trump’s interest in controlling Greenland, saying she welcomed US investment in the territory.
…But the EU isn’t taking any chances
Trump 2.0 won’t be “so easily distracted, charmed or blocked,” so Europe must be prepared to defend its interests, The Observer’s foreign affairs commentator argued, and the EU seems to be readying itself for a fight: The bloc’s industry chief declared “the end of European complacency” in a recent interview with Bloomberg. But faced with Russian aggression and an increasingly predatory China, Europe needs the US more than ever even as it is “less well situated to influence American policy… than at any time in decades,” a columnist argued in The Wall Street Journal. Still, however correct Trump’s criticisms of Europe may be, its decline isn’t good for the US, so “America’s goal must be to resuscitate Europe rather than dance on its grave,” he wrote.