Why does Trump want Greenland and the Panama Canal? Here is what is causing the US interest.

President-elect Donald Trump, during a lengthy news conference on Tuesday, spoke about his interest in protecting the US control of Greenland and the Panama Canaland he said he would not rule out the use of military force.

Below is a look at where these two areas are and why Trump might want the US to regulate them.

Where is Greenland and why does Trump want to control it?

Greenland is located in northeastern Canada and is largely covered by the Greenland Ice Sheet. The largest island in the world, but with a population of only about 60,000, it is a sovereign territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, with its own elected government.

Its location between the US, Russia and Europe makes it strategic for both economic and defense purposes – especially as the sea ice melts opened up new shipping routes across the Arctic.

It is also the location of the northernmost US military base.

“We need Greenland for national security purposes,” Trump said Tuesday. “I’m talking about protecting the free world. You look — you don’t even need binoculars — you look outside. You’ve got Chinese ships everywhere. You’ve got Russian ships everywhere. We’re not letting that happen.

The Northwest Passage, or the North Sea route, began to be crossed in the winter months by Russian merchant ships a few years ago, and is a short route that connects the major ports of eastern Asia with Europe and the Atlantic Ocean. Western countries have already expressed concern about Russia and China are using it to develop their presence in the North Atlantic.

“The Americans are very interested in overseeing foreign activities in Greenland because it is a major defense asset for foreign countries, and therefore, any investment or activity, from the American point of view, may be seen as a security threat,” Frank Sejersen, associate professor at the University of Copenhagen, told CBS News on Wednesday.

Pernille Benjaminsen, a human rights lawyer in Greenland, told CBS News that relations between the independent government and the Danish government have grown tense over the years, and Trump may be trying to capitalize on that.

“He saw that there is a strong relationship between Denmark and Greenland and he saw opportunities in that,” he said.

Greenland also has oil, natural gas and much sought after mineral resources.

Those mineral resources, which include rare earth elements, have been “explored and underdeveloped,” said Jose W. Fernandez, the US State Department’s undersecretary for economic growth, energy and the environment, speaking at the Minerals Security Partnership event in Greenland. November.

Greenland may have significant deposits of up to 31 different minerals, including lithium and graphite, both of which are needed to produce electric car batteries, according to a 2023 report assessing the island’s resources. Those deposits are likely to attract Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has become a close adviser to Trump after providing more than $270 million last year to support his candidacy and other Republicans.

Currently, lithium production is dominated by Australia, Chile and China, with China producing about 65% of the world’s graphite, the report said.

Greenland also has the potential to provide the largest amount of rare earth minerals such as Neodymium, which is used to make magnets used in electric motors, the 2023 report said.

Currently, China produces about 70% of the world’s rare materials.

“Right now the world is very dependent on a small group of actors mining and processing many important minerals,” Fernandez said in November.

Demand for rare earth minerals is outstripping supply, which has kept prices high, according to Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung. However, there are significant obstacles to mining in Greenland, including environmental and cost issues.

What is the Panama Canal and why would Trump want it?

About 40% of US container shipping currently travels through the Panama Canal, according to trade publication CargoNOW. The canal acts as a bridge between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea and, beyond that, the Atlantic Ocean.

Trump said the United States needed the Panama Canal for “economic security,” falsely claiming it was “used by China.”

“The Panama Canal is important to our country. It is used by China. China! And we gave the Panama Canal to Panama. We did not give it to China, and they abused it. They abused that gift. It should not have been done,” said Trump.

The President of Panama Jose Raul Mulino contradicted what Trump said.

“There is absolutely no Chinese interference or involvement in anything related to the Panama Canal,” he said in late December.

Panama’s Foreign Minister, Javier Martínez-Acha, said on Tuesday that his government had not officially spoken to Trump or his team about the canal recently, but reiterated the president’s previous comments that the canal would continue to be controlled by Panama.

“The sovereignty of our canal is non-negotiable and is part of our history of struggle and irreversible victory,” said Martínez-Acha.

China has also denied that it has tried to claim control of the canal, and Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said in December that Beijing “will always respect Panama’s sovereignty over the Canal and recognize the Canal as a neutral international waterway forever.”

History of Greenland

The Kingdom of Denmark began colonizing Greenland in the early 18th century, centuries after Vikings from the same distant land first arrived to settle. It wasn’t until World War II that the US began to have a presence on the island, when the Danish Ambassador at the time to the US, Henrik Kauffmann, refused to surrender to Danish occupation by the Nazis.

Denmark was liberated from the Nazi invasion in 1945, but the US did not leave its military base, the Pituffik Space Base, to this day it remains the northernmost point of the American military.

History of the Panama Canal

I The Panama Canal it was built by the US between 1904 and 1914. It acts as a bridge between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean, significantly shortening shipping routes from Asia to eastern US ports.

It began to be managed by the US government for decades, which created tensions with Panama.

In the 1970s, the US and Panama signed an agreement agreeing to the permanent neutrality of the canal. The US committed to ceasing control of the canal and did so in full in 1999. The canal is now operated by the Panama Canal Authority.