Even before he becomes president, Donald Trump is causing dismay with his idiosyncratic diplomacy. He has more-than-once questioned Canada’s independence, claiming that it would be better off if it became the 51st US state. He has humiliated Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by referring to him as the Governor of Canada. He has also issued a map showing Canada as part of the US. He is ready to use economic force to achieve his objectives, he said.

Trump has also laid claim to Greenland, arguing that the US needs this Danish territory for security reasons. Casting doubt on Denmark’s legal ownership of Greenland, he has threatened to take it by force if necessary. His son has visited Greenland, presumably as part of this take-over mission, which the US ambassador to Denmark has also been mandated to pursue.

The president-elect has also laid claim to the Panama Canal, completed by the US in 1914 and transferred to Panamanian sovereignty in December 1999. Trump’s grouse is that the Chinese have taken control of the waterway’s administration and high costs of transit have been imposed on US ships using it.

He has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Mexican (as well as on Canadian) exports to the US, in violation of the 1994 NAFTA agreement. Trump has also announced that he intends to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, as this would have a beautiful ring to it.

These bullying tactics by the world’s foremost power inevitably send worrying signals across the globe. Trump has come back with a thumping majority, with the Republicans gaining control of both houses of Congress, and this has given him added confidence in his own political instincts and solutions to various issues on his internal governance........

© RT.com