So Trump is coming in hot as we get closer and closer to his inauguration, and now he wants control of the Panama Canal. The problem is, as the name would imply, control of the canal currently belongs to Panama. So Trump floated the idea at the Turning Point USA conference in Arizona. [00:00:17] Here's what he asked his attendees. Has anyone ever heard of the Panama Canal? Because we're being ripped off at the Panama Canal like we're being ripped off everywhere else. A secure. He just said, take it back. That's a good idea. [00:00:32] Okay, so Trump is upset that the US is being charged what he considers to be exorbitant fees to use the canal. He believes that the US should not have to pay for them. And here's why. The United States is the number one user of the Panama Canal, with over 72% of all [00:00:49] transits heading to or from US ports. Think of that. So we built it. We're the ones that use it. They gave it away. So when he says they gave it away, he's talking about the Democrats, specifically the Carter administration. In 1977, a series of treaties were signed between the US and Panama that gave [00:01:09] Panama full control of the canal. Starting in 1999, so now, 25 years later, Trump would like to reverse the accomplishments of those treaties. The Panamanian president did respond to Trump's suggestion that the Panama Canal should instead be the United States Canal. [00:01:25] In a video he posted on X, the president spoke Spanish during the address and he did not mention Trump's name, but per translation, this is what he had to say about the fees that Trump is mad about. He said that the fees are established publicly and in an open hearing, [00:01:40] considering market conditions, international competition, operating costs, and the maintenance and modernization needs of the Inter-oceanic route. This is how we achieve the expansion of the canal in 2016, which today represents greater economic and commercial growth, [00:01:56] generating more wealth and opportunities throughout the world and its commerce. The canal has no direct or indirect control, neither from China nor from the European Community, nor from the United States or from any other power. Okay, so let's pivot a little bit. [00:02:12] This isn't the first time that Trump has tried to expand the US holdings abroad. If you'll remember from his first administration, Trump wanted to buy Greenland from Denmark. Take a look. Greenland? I don't know, it got released somehow. It's just something we talked about. Denmark essentially owns it. We're very good allies with Denmark. [00:02:30] We protect Denmark like we protect large portions of the world. So the concept came up, and I said, certainly I'd be strategically, it's interesting and we'd be interested, but we'll talk to them a little bit. Yeah. So the problem was then and still is now, that Greenland is not for sale, which is [00:02:49] bad news for Trump, because apparently, as he's coming back into the white House, he still wants to buy Greenland. But back when this first came up, Trump said that this was basically just a real estate deal. Now the stakes, it would seem, are much higher. So in a post on X, Trump announced Ken Howery as his pick for the US ambassador [00:03:08] to the Kingdom of Denmark. In the post, he said for purposes of national security and freedom throughout the world, the United States of America feels that ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity, whatever that even means, I don't know, [00:03:23] but who is Ken Howery, the ambassador? Well, he was Trump's former ambassador to Sweden, so he does have some experience dealing with the Scandinavian nations. But perhaps more importantly, he is one of the co-founders of PayPal. Two other notable co-founders of PayPal are billionaires [00:03:39] Peter Thiel and Elon Musk. Elon Musk, as I said, is our de facto president elect right now, and he has plenty of reason to want the US to acquire Greenland. Hidden within Greenland's immense sheet of ice is coal and copper [00:03:54] and zinc and copper. That's the one. It has lots of copper. And these tech guys like they need the copper. They want it so badly. Elon Musk specifically needs copper to mass manufacture batteries for his electric vehicles. To that end, last year he actually met with the Prime Minister of Mongolia [00:04:12] to discuss an investment in the country. Mongolia also has a ton of copper, and additionally, I will nearly double the global demand for copper in the coming years, and copper is already in short supply. So whoever controls the resources controls the market. [00:04:29] Trump also isn't the first U.S. President who has expressed interest in Greenland, which is basically a giant sheet of ice back in the 1940s. President Truman tried to buy it for $100 million, and if he had succeeded, it would have been the largest territorial expansion in U.S. [00:04:44] History, bigger than Alaska and bigger than the Louisiana Purchase. Jake, the minute Trump says anything like, oh, let's call it the United States Canal or let's buy Greenland. His supporters immediately jump on that. They hate the Panama Canal now. They think they're being ripped off. They hate Panama for controlling the canal that literally bisects their nation, and [00:05:04] they hate China for trying to control it. So we have to control it before China does. It's it's all these things that are just coming up all of a sudden right now. And it's always a little bizarre to me how quickly his supporters just immediately fall in line with whatever comes out of his mouth, even if they don't really understand it. [00:05:20] So what do you make of all this? Okay, so let's say I handle it one at a time on Panama. Has anybody ever heard of the Panama Canal? Yes, brother. We've heard of the Panama Canal. Okay. He always says. What? Like. Like he's. This the first time he's ever heard of it? [00:05:35] I'm not saying that that's the case. He was president for four years, okay? But it was funny. So he's like, dude, they're charging us fees. You know why they're charging us fees? Because it's their canal. And that's kind of how it works. And so why did we give it back? Because we had a treaty. [00:05:51] Or would you have preferred we go to war with Panama? Because I heard you were anti-war. Right. So how are you going to get the canal back from them? Are you going to go invade Panama for no reason, Mr. Antiwar? So, look, you want to negotiate new fees and you want to use leverage [00:06:10] that America has. And we have tons of leverage, right? That's a different issue. No problem. Okay. Do you do whatever you think is right. I hope you don't break too many eggs while making that omelet, etc. But like this kind of needless talk of like, well, maybe you should take it back. [00:06:25] Like, what's the point? What's the point? Look, on the other hand, it's I think it's relatively harmless. Why? Because. Is he actually going to invade Panama? No, he's not going to do that. That's ridiculous. Right. Is he going to go and invade Denmark to conquer Greenland? [00:06:40] I hope not, I don't think so. Right. So this is just like games they like to play. Like, this is rhetorical stuff like, oh, we're going to come for Greenland and Panama and remember, we're anti-war. Okay, look, if you want to try to buy Greenland like Truman did, no problem. [00:06:56] Make him an offer. Right. And we'll see. Is it worth it for the American people or not? Of course, the problem with that kind of stuff usually guys though, and that happened with Alaska, too. Alaska was called Seward's Folly after the secretary of State that decided to purchase Alaska, and it turned out to be the greatest purchase. [00:07:12] Well, along with the Louisiana Purchase that we've ever made. And it was a terrific deal. I'm super happy about it. And then we got all that oil for the Americans. Oh, no, we got it for Exxon Mobil and Chevron when we never actually got the oil. They did. [00:07:27] So if we get Greenland, is it for the American people and we get the copper? My guess is just like the oil. No. The incredibly wealthy corporations will take strip the place clean, and then will we get any of it? We'll get almost none of it. And that. And why did we do all those coups and stuff like that in Latin America? [00:07:45] And, you know, you you pull a trump. You ever heard of a thing called Banana Republic? Nobody had ever heard of it until I said it. Okay. Anyway, they were called banana republics because we did a coup against them because they wouldn't sell bananas at the right price to us, [00:08:02] the right price being lower, lower, right. And so when you and when we did that, did the American people get the bananas? No. They come the banana company got it. So we have been invading countries and bullying countries and causing all [00:08:22] sorts of wars and global conflicts and getting hatred back towards America, not on behalf of the people of the United States of America, but on behalf of the corporations that own the government of America. So this is more of the same. If he wants to huff and puff to renegotiate fees, no big deal. [00:08:39] If he goes any further than this silliness, then it's just a total waste of our time at a minimum. And like a weirdo tangent otherwise. But like if right wingers online want to, you know, be like, yeah, we're going to get Greenland. Okay. Have at it, Hoss, but we're not going to get Greenland. [00:08:56] And it's silly. Yeah, I'm glad that you brought up that point about the banana republics and everything that has already been done in Central America by the US government, whether that was overtly or covertly. And that was one of the first things I thought of whenever he started talking [00:09:11] about the Panama Canal and how he wants better control over it. You know, they get to charge us fees to use it, right? They charge fees to everybody who uses that canal. That thing has revolutionized the way goods are shipped around the world. So we need it, right? There's a reason why it was built, but the idea that the United States [00:09:30] wants something and we have this giant military behind us, it is kind of scary, you know, just to. That was my first thought. It's like, you know, if you wanted to do some kind of military action and say, oh, like, their government collapsed, how did that happen? I don't know. And so that gives the government a chance to be like, oh, you know, [00:09:47] we have to help them because they're not responsible enough to manage this giant thing that all these countries depend on. So it is kind of concerning in that sense. I don't think he's going to try to pull the same thing in Denmark. I think that would be very difficult for for the United States to pull off, [00:10:02] for for reasons that I'm sure you can all understand, but it's that that is concerning for me. Yeah. I mean. Look, it's Trump. Logic is insane. Well, we help Panama at one point and we had the canal and we had control over it, and we gave back because of a treaty. I don't like it. Right. [00:10:18] Well, under that logic, we also had control of France after World War two when we liberated it from the Germans. Oh. I don't want to give him any ideas. Should we go back and say, well, we had it at some point that said, give us France back. Oh, well, I don't have to pay him money to go to France. [00:10:35] I don't why don't I just take it? What are we doing here? What is this? Did Trump get elected to invade Panama? Well, before we go, there was one part of the story that I forgot to mention. Back during his first term as president, he did float the idea of maybe just, [00:10:51] like, selling Puerto Rico and using and, like, trading Puerto Rico for Greenland because he didn't like Puerto Rico. And all this was happening while he was in Puerto Rico trying to help them recover from a hurricane. He was like, just get rid of it. Let's just get Greenland instead. - So that's what we're dealing with here. - Good luck with that. [00:11:09] Thanks for watching the video, guys. We also love it if you hit the join button below because that makes you a member. And members allow us to be independent, honest. We can be as progressive as we want, no corporate media influence. And that's all because of you guys. We love doing the show with our members. Hit the join button. Become one of the Young Turks.