Image: Gage Skidmore, Openverse
Image: Gage Skidmore, Openverse
Trump hasn’t had much trouble bullying the Congress, firing federal workers, closing DEI offices, and signing executive orders. But deals with other countries have been a little hard to come by.
Republished with permission from Lucian K. Truscott IV
The strategy of bluster and lies and macho posturing hasn’t been working too well beyond the boundaries of the United States of America, as country after country has failed to bend a knee to Donald Trump and the threats he made in his inaugural address to “expand our territory.” Trump has said he wants to take over Greenland and for Canada to become the 51st State. He threatened this week to impose tariffs on Canadian goods if our northern neighbor doesn’t agree to his demands.
“I don’t want to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on supporting a country unless that country is a state,” Trump said in an interview with reporters on Air Force One on Saturday. “And if it is a state, the people of Canada would pay a much lower tax. Their taxes would be cut in half. They would have no military problems. They’d be much more secure in every way. And I think it’s a great thing for Canada.”
Trump made a phone call to Danish Premier Mette Frederikson last week to discuss his desire to “buy” or otherwise take over Greenland. The call was described to the Financial Times as “fiery,” “horrendous,” “a cold shower,” and “potentially dangerous” by multiple serving and former “senior European officials” who had been briefed on the call. “[Trump’s] intent was very clear,” one of the officials said of the call. “They want it. The Danes are now in a crisis mode.”
Trump’s insane territorial ambitions to take over Greenland and Canada weren’t the only evidence of his bullying of other nations. Colombia turned away two military flights carrying deported migrants last week. Colombian President Gustavo Petro complained that the United States was treating Colombian migrants “like criminals” by putting them on military aircraft. “I do not authorize the entry of North American planes carrying Colombian migrants into our territory,” Petro said. “The U.S. must establish a protocol of dignified treatment of migrants before we receive them.”
In retaliation against the Colombian refusal to accept U.S. deportee flights, Trump announced tariffs on Colombian exports to the U.S. and revoked the visas of Colombian government officials and their “allies and supporters,” according to one report today. Trump issued a ban on travel to and from Colombia and vowed to increase the 25 percent tariff he imposed today to 50 percent if Colombia doesn’t come to heel and accept flights from the United States to Colombia carrying deportees.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro issued a defiant post on X saying, “Your blockade does not frighten me.”
On Thursday, Mexico denied landing rights to a flight containing deported migrants. The White House later claimed that Mexico had accepted four charter flights filled with deportees. Trump has threatened Mexico with across the board 25 percent tariffs on Mexican exports, but has yet to impose the tariffs.
Further beyond U.S. borders, Trump’s threats and bullying met with similar resistance. Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he wanted to “clean out” Gaza and relocate Gazan refugees to Egypt and Jordan. Sounding more like the real estate developer he was than the president he is now, Trump said of Palestinians from Gaza, “I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”
Jordan’s foreign minister quickly shot down the idea, saying that his country’s opposition to becoming a refugee haven for Palestinians is “firm and will not change.” The Egyptian embassy posted on its website the text of a 2023 statement by the Egyptian ambassador: “Egypt cannot be part of any solution involving the transfer of Palestinians into Sinai.”
Trump has refused to rule out the use of military force to “take back” the Panama Canal, another promise he made in his inaugural address. The Guardian reported this morning that the country of Panama is “holding its breath as it tries to figure out what Trump wants and how far he is willing to go to get it.” Newly sworn-in Secretary of State Marco Rubio will make his first overseas trip to several Central American countries, including Guatemala and Panama. Rubio may meet with Panamanian administrators of the canal. Trump has alleged that the canal is being “run by China” and is overcharging U.S. ships to pass through the canal. Both allegations are false.
Trump promised again and again during the campaign last year that he would end the war in Ukraine “in a single day” before he even took office. That didn’t happen. Late this week, Trump took to Truth Social to issue threats against Vladimir Putin for failing to take the hint he dropped last year. “Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a ‘deal’, and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries. We can do it the easy way, or the hard way—and the easy way is always better. It’s time to ‘MAKE A DEAL’.”
Trump hasn’t had much trouble bullying the Congress, firing federal workers, closing DEI offices, and signing executive orders. But deals with other countries have been a little hard to come by for Donald Trump. You want to take a guess who’s sitting back in his bunker in Moscow taking notes?
Lucian K. Truscott IV, a graduate of West Point, has had a 50-year career as a journalist, novelist and screenwriter. He has covered stories such as Watergate, the Stonewall riots and wars in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan. He is also the author of five bestselling novels and several unsuccessful motion pictures. He has three children, lives in rural Pennsylvania and spends his time Worrying About the State of Our Nation and madly scribbling in a so-far fruitless attempt to Make Things Better.
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