Is Trump wasting time duelling with friends like Canada, Denmark, and Panama?

US President Donald Trump simply loves to annoy his allies, but it serves little purpose. If the winter holidays mean the president-elect should lie low and focus on his upcoming inaugurations, Donald Trump has not got the message yet, says James M. Lindsay at the Mary and David Boies distinguished, where he is senior fellow in U.S. foreign policy and director of Fellowship Affairs at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
The incoming 47th president took to his social media platform Truth Social recently calling for reclaiming the Panama Canal, acquiring Greenland, and making Canada the 51st state. While doing that, he exposed the chinks in his armour of his foreign policy – his puzzling willingness to alienate America’s friends unnecessarily, Lindsay pointed out.
On Dec. 21, Trump accused Panama of charging “exorbitant prices and rates of passage” on U.S. Navy and commercial ships. Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino, who was elected earlier this year on a pledge to bring his country closer to the United States, according to Politico, responded by saying that “every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjoining zone is Panama’s and will remain so,” and that the “sovereignty and independence of our country is non-negotiable.” Trump did not take the rebuke well.

Given Trump’s pronouncements in the past, his complaint about the mistreatment of U.S. vessels does not square with the facts. As The Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board, hardly a bastion of the anti-Trump resistance, put it, “Mr. Trump’s claim that Panama is gouging Americans is unfounded. Every vessel, regardless of its flag, pays the same rate according to tonnage and type. Container ships, which carry finished goods, pay more than bulk carriers. About 75% of the total price is a toll and 25% is for services like tugboat or locomotive escorts.’
On the issue of Greenland, Trump wrote at the end of a Truth Social post announcing his nominee for ambassador to Denmark that “the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.” (Greenland, which until 1953 was a Danish colony, is an autonomous district of Denmark that has its own local government.) Neither Greenland nor Denmark took Trump’s comments as a joke

Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte_Bourup_Egede said: “We are not for sale, and we will not be for sale.” The Danish government announced it was increasing Défense spending for Greenland to demonstrate its resolve.
Trump repeated his calls for U.S. ownership of the Panama Canal and Greenland in his Christmas message on Truth Social. And he also called once again for making Canada the 51st state.

Trump’s defenders insist that such surprise demands secure a diplomatic advantage for the United States precisely because they upend expectations and diplomatic norms. In this line of thinking, Trump’s unpredictability is much like a baseball pitcher throwing high and inside to a batter. It puts other capitals on their back heels and makes them less able to resist U.S. demands, economists say.
But the problem with the latest provocations is less Trump’s tactics than his enthusiasm for picking unnecessary fights with friends.
The United States today faces the most competitive geopolitical situation in decades. China is the first peer competitor that can challenge U.S. leadership economically, militarily, and technologically. It is deepening its ties with Russia, Iran, North Korea, and other countries that share its desire to weaken U.S. power. And it is building its relations with so-called swing powers such as Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates that could decide the evolution of the future world order.

Faced with such competition, the United States should be strengthening its ties with friends, partners, and allies. They have long been force-multipliers for U.S. power. As the saying goes, there is strength in numbers. Beijing certainly understands the new dynamics that will emerge in 2025. That is why it seeks to sow divisions in U.S. relations with allies. Beijing wants countries to question U.S. leadership and to doubt Washington’s intentions and reliability. A United States that has fewer partners, or less committed ones, is a United States that will command less influence on the world stage, critics say.
Trump remains convinced, as he put it at a campaign rally last spring, that “in many cases, our allies are worse than our so-called enemies.” That assessment is wrong. But it drives his thinking and explains why he seems more interested in picking fights with friends than enlisting them in a common cause. And that will make it harder for the United States to succeed in a world of great power competition.
James M. Lindsay is the Mary and David Boies distinguished senior fellow in U.S. foreign policy and director of Fellowship Affairs at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). His work at CFR focuses on U.S. national security policy, the U.S. foreign policymaking process and the domestic politics of U.S. foreign policy.
This commentary by him can be found in the US News and International report brought in partnership with CFR, an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank and publisher dedicated to helping citizens better understand the world and foreign policy choices.

Source: US News & International Report