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“I got to say the Danish ambassador, they were upset and they were offended and they said, ‘Greenland is not for sale,’ and I laughed, and I said, ‘You know what: everything is for sale,'” Cruz said. “But friends and allies can have conversations about things that are mutual benefits. What I told Denmark is, I said: ‘Ever since the president began talking about this, Greenland’s independence movement has been growing in momentum. And if Greenland declares itself independent of you, Denmark gets nothing.’”

The Monroe Doctrine, established in 1823, was originally drafted to protect U.S. interests against European powers that could try to recolonize South American countries gaining independence from Spain and to ward off Russian moves into the Pacific Northwest. Czarist Russia bloodlessly desisted from attempts to colonize the West Coast and Alaska. However, U.S. hemispheric dominance has proved more difficult to enforce in Latin America, involving the U.S. in local conflicts that have led to past military interventions. President Obama’s secretary of state, John Kerry, declared before the Organization of American States in 2013 that “the Monroe Doctrine is over.” But...

In the recent frenzy of commentary seeking to interpret U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s increasingly adamant comments about territorial expansion to Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal, too much of the discussion has focused on matters of secondary importance. These range from assessing whether Trump is merely engaging in a game of showmanship or distraction, to deciphering how those regions’ inhabitants feel about ceding territorial control to the United States, to determining how much it would cost to purchase their acquiescence. From a policy perspective, though, more fundamental matters have gone surprisingly unaddressed, beginning with the question of whether any of...

Rep. Dusty Johnson unveiled legislation that would authorize the repurchase of the Panama Canal, giving congressional teeth to President-elect Donald Trump’s wish to take back the strategic waterway. The Panama Canal Repurchase Act of 2025 would give Mr. Trump, in coordination with the secretary of state, the authority to enter into negotiations with the Panamanian government to buy the canal. Mr. Trump recently said the U.S. should regain control of the Panama Canal to bolster national security interests, largely over concerns about China’s influence over the operations... Panama became a part of China’s Belt and Road initiative in 2018...

President-elect Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he would not rule out the possibility of using military or economic coercion to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, emphasizing their strategic significance to U.S. national security. Speaking at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump said that he “cannot assure” that military or economic coercion would not be used to take control of these two strategic locations, in response to a question. “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two, but I can say this, we need them for economic security,” Trump responded. “It might be...

The government of Brazil stopped issuing work visas for Chinese electric carmaker BYD after local authorities rescued 163 Chinese nationals working in conditions “analogous to slavery” at a BYD factory under construction in the city of Camaçari, Bahia, Reuters reported Friday. BYD, a company with deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party, is building the plant at a location once occupied by American carmaker Ford, which sold the location to the local Bahia government in 2023 after Ford ceased all operations in Brazil in 2021. Brazil’s Public Prosecutor’s Office announced on December 23 that construction work on BYD’s factory in...

On Friday’s “CNN News Central,” Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) said that there isn’t any evidence that China exercises control over the Panama Canal in a way that endangers American security, but there is a risk of a hit to America’s reputation if it looks like it’s bullying Panama. Host Jessica Dean said, “I’m curious if you think there is legitimate concern about China’s influence on the Panama Canal.” Auchincloss responded, “There are two shipping companies domiciled in Hong Kong that have a presence at the Panama Canal Zone, no evidence that I have seen that that represents a security threat...

Forgive us if we missed it, but we don’t recall Donald Trump campaigning to invade Panama and retake its famous canal. But there was the President-elect on the weekend, threatening our Central American ally with punishment if it doesn’t meet his demands. “Our Navy and commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way. The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, highly unfair, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama—I say, very foolishly, by the United States,” Mr. Trump told a crowd in Phoenix. “This complete ripoff of our country will immediately stop.”...

Trump made an economic argument along with his geopolitical one: “We’re being ripped off at the Panama Canal like we’re being ripped off everywhere else,” he told the audience as he denounced the increased fees billed to American shippers by the canal’s operators. ... The first treaty obliged Panama to operate the canal neutrally, with nondiscriminatory pricing, and allowed the United States to defend it from any threat that might interfere with its neutrality. The second treaty transferred full control to Panama effective on Dec. 31, 1999, without superseding the first treaty’s broad provision allowing for US defense of this...

…….. However, this issue is not solely about economics. Trump’s statements also reflect broader anxieties about China’s expanding regional influence. Since Panama recognized China diplomatically instead of Taiwan in 2017, Beijing has intensified its economic engagement, including significant investments in infrastructure projects near the canal. The U.S. Southern Command has voiced concerns about these Chinese investments, with General Laura Richardson highlighting to a Senate panel that they pose a potential threat to U.S. interests. China’s control over ports at both ends of the canal through Hutchison Ports PPC, a Hong Kong-based company with strong ties to Beijing, has fueled these...

The Panama Canal is a great creation of the people of Panama, and China has always supported the people of Panama in their just struggle for sovereignty over the Canal, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Monday, when commenting on US President-elect Donald Trump's recent claim that the canal is a "vital national asset" for the US, which he threatened to reassert US control over. Trump's remarks put this key waterway in South America under the spotlight, after he threatened Sunday to reassert US control over the Panama Canal. He accused Panama of charging excessive rates to use...

The Panama Canal is considered a VITAL National Asset for the United States, due to its critical role to America’s Economy and National Security. A secure Panama Canal is crucial for U.S. Commerce, and rapid deployment of the Navy, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and drastically cuts shipping times to U.S. ports. The United States is the Number One user of the Canal, with over 70 percent of all transits heading to, or from, U.S. ports. Considered one of the Wonders of the Modern World, the Panama Canal opened for business 110 years ago, and was built at HUGE...

Trump noted that the U.S. was the top user of the canal, with more than 70% of the ships that move through the port “heading to, or from, U.S. ports.” President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday that Panama must stop taking advantage of the U.S. or else America is going to take the Panama Canal back. “The Panama Canal is considered a VITAL National Asset for the United States, due to its critical role to America’s Economy and National Security,” Trump said in a statement posted to social media. “A secure Panama Canal is crucial for U.S. Commerce, and rapid...

Genocidal Chinese dictator Xi Jinping held extensive, fruitful meetings with socialist Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Wednesday that concluded with the countries agreeing to elevate their diplomatic ties to that of “Community for a Shared Brazil-China Future for a More Just World and More Sustainable Planet.” ... The two leaders agreed to expand the scope of their cooperation as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a global infrastructure plan in which China offers predatory loans to poor countries to be used to fund cost-prohibitive infrastructure projects. When the countries cannot pay the loans back, China...

A diplomatic row is gaining steam between Mexico and the United States. Outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has accused the US of sponsoring opposition NGOs such as the group Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI) through USAID programs. Obrador said his Foreign Ministry had sent a diplomatic notice, while he would personally write to US President Joe Biden about it. The US government has sent nearly $5 million to MCCI since 2018, with private donors including the Rockefeller and Ford foundations, Mexico’s Financial Crimes Unit (UIF) said.

Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora reviewed with his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin the joint lithium and nuclear projects with which the South American country consolidates its position from a geopolitical and strategic viewpoint given the presence of Iranian facilities and equipment. Arce told reporters in La Paz Tuesday that all these matters were discussed during his recent meeting with the Russian leader in St. Petersburg on the occasion of the International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in the former imperial capital. According to Arce, the project involving Russia's Uranium One company regarding direct lithium extraction in Bolivian salt flats “must start operating...

CHANCAY, Peru—In this serene town on South America’s Pacific coast, China is building a megaport that could challenge U.S. influence in a resource-rich region that Washington has long considered its backyard.... ...The U.S. worries that China’s control over what could become South America’s first true global commercial hub will allow Beijing to further strengthen its grip over the region’s resources, deepen its influence among America’s closest neighbors and eventually plant its military nearby.... Peru’s Foreign Minister Javier González-Olaechea said...“The United States is present almost everywhere in the world with a lot of initiatives, but not so much in Latin America,”...

"China's state-owned banks are tightening curbs on funding to Russian clients as they fear being subjected to secondary sanctions from the U.S., according to a Tuesday report by Bloomberg... "...Chris Weafer, chief executive officer of strategic consultants Macro-Advisory Ltd., which focuses on Russia and the Eurasia region, previously told Newsweek that Russia should be wary of this increased reliance on China. "While China is eagerly buying energy and materials and selling Chinese-made goods to the Russia market, all of which suits Beijing, there is very little investment coming into Russia, certainly nothing like enough to replace the lost investment from...

The Monroe Doctrine is the blueprint for returning to a realistic grand strategy that can preserve American liberty from threats foreign and domestic.This month marks the 200th anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine. If celebration (or even acknowledgment) seems muted, that may be because policymakers and the public know little about the principles and grand strategy underlying the doctrine.Few likely understand the doctrine because its meaning has been distorted throughout American history, especially in the Progressive Era by Theodore Roosevelt’s corollary. Some see it, for better or worse, as the beginning of America’s commitment to maintaining an international order by arms...

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday signed a measure to make illegal entry into the Lone Star State a state crime, giving state law enforcement a potentially pivotal tool to combat illegal immigration on its own amid perceived federal apathy. The law, which is slated to take effect in March, would empower Texas law enforcement to arrest illegal entrants and grant judges the ability to order their deportation, CNN reported. Under Abbott's leadership, Texas has conducted a unilateral effort to enforce its border dubbed "Operation Lone Star" that has prompted legal battles with federal government, including a dispute over...