Donald Trumps "Make American Expand Again" Program by Salman Rafi Sheikh!
(2025-01-29 at 05:46:12 )

Donald Trumps "Make American Expand Again" Program by Salman Rafi Sheikh!

Donald Trumps recent push for neo-expansionism, from asserting control over Greenland and the Panama Canal to demanding increased NATO defense spending, signals a controversial bid to restore United States dominance but risks global isolation.

Donald Trumps "Make American Expand Again" Program

The last few days have seen Donald Trump - and his political allies - making several statements emphasizing new forms of United States interventions. From Trumps talks about controlling the Panama Canal and Greenland to Elon Musks comments about "liberating" the people of Britain from its own government, an expansionist America appears to be on the horizon again. Chances are, however, that neo-expansionism will leave the United States isolated globally.

The Plan: Americanization

Greenland is the vast deposits of rare earth minerals that several United States companies want to grab

Donald Trump took the gloves off in a press conference on the 7th of January in Florida. To quote Trump, "China is at both ends of the Panama Canal. China is running the Panama Canal, and they come to see this Biden, this guy who should never have been allowed even to run for president". Trump further announced that "Those days are over". He intends to take on his neighbours as well. "Canada is subsidized to the tune of about $200 billion a year, plus other things. They do not essentially have a military. They have a very small military. They rely on our military. It is all fine, but they have got to pay for that. It is very unfair", Trump emphasised. The idea is not just to make Canada pay, but the idea is to consolidate American hegemony. If Canada pays America for security, America is in charge. This is, in short, a path towards the "Americanization" of geopolitics.

What shows Americanization even more glaringly is Donald Trumps idea to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. He said, "We are going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring. That covers a lot of territory. The Gulf of America, what a beautiful name and it is appropriate. It is appropriate."

He wants to grab more territory for America. In reality, he wants this for the elites, but Donald Trump is after expanding American territory while denying it to the immigrants living in the United States for years and decades.

Interestingly, Donald Trumps expansion is going to put him on a collision course with a fellow NATO member, Denmark. "Well, we need Greenland for national security purposes. I have been told that for a long time, long before I even ran. I mean, people have been talking about it for a long time. You have approximately 45,000 people there. People really do not even know if Denmark has any legal right to it, but if they do, they should give it up because we need it for national security". A key reason he wants Greenland is the vast deposits of rare earth minerals that several United States companies want to grab.

United States officials have already been trying to lobby developers of Greenlands largest, rare earths deposit not to sell to China. This has not worked. Therefore, Trump wants to grab forcefully Greenland as part of Americas ongoing battle with China for the production of the best electric commodities, including Electric Vehicles. This is where elites like Elon Musk become relevant to the understanding of neo-expansionism and the imperative of controlling Greenland.

From Imperialist Expansion to Isolation

How is the world going to see this? The Associated Press, an America-based news agency, called Trumps ideas in terms of a "new imperialist agenda." While the key purpose is surely to add to Americas declining power, Washington,D.C. is unlikely to reap any significant benefits by alienating its NATO allies in Europe and forcing most of the world to line up against it. In this context, his demand from NATO countries to contribute 5 per cent of their GDP is not only unrealistic but also highly counterproductive.

DW, a leading German news network, reported that the demand has "rattled" NATO allies. Ultimately, what Trump - and his American allies - hope to achieve by making NATO countries spend more on defence is to transfer their assets into American assets. Many NATO allies depend on made-in-United States defence equipment. Therefore, unless NATO countries are really able to really upgrade their own defence production capability and produce state-of-the-art weapon systems domestically or within the continent, they will need to purchase a lot from the United States. In any case, Trump ends up pushing NATO into a tight corner with minimum room to manoeuvre. This is how Trump aims to consolidate United States domination.

But if NATO countries end up spending anywhere from 3 to 5 per cent of their GDP on defence, what is to prevent them from developing ideas of common defence that do not necessarily involve the United States?

In the long run, such a move towards Europeanizing continental security could actually liberate Europe from United States hegemony. In such a scenario, the United States ability to coordinate its policies against its competitors will decline. Thus far, one key reason the United States has been able to hurt Russian and Chinese interests by way of economic and financial sanctions is by making Europe follow the United States in its footsteps (by imposing similar sanctions and tariffs).

However, to many of these countries, it is already evident that Donald Trump is not their ally.

Will they still follow the United States lead? In the event of Europe not following the United States in its footsteps, Washington,D.C.s global power will shrink rather than expand, which would "Make America weak" (again).

Salman Rafi Sheikh, research analyst of International Relations and Pakistans foreign and domestic affairs

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