United States President Donald Trump this week ratcheted up tensions between America and its European allies over his demand that the US be allowed to seize the semi-autonomous Danish island of Greenland, announcing that he would impose punitive tariffs of 10 percent on top of existing tariff rates on the United Kingdom and six other European countries as of Feb. 1, rising to 25 percent on June 1, if he does not get his way.
While there is an understandable tendency by those of us on this side of the world to view the Greenland crisis as a bizarre comic opera with little relevance to the Philippines or our region, it should be deeply alarming. It is only the latest demonstration in a pattern of the faithlessness and unreliability of the US under the Trump regime, another clear message that commitments and respect for America’s international partners and allies have been discarded, and that anyone who stands in the way of America’s aggressive, profit-driven self-interest will be regarded as an enemy.
Trump has sought US control over Greenland since the very beginning of his second term in office, claiming that US annexation of the vast Arctic island — a partially self-ruling territory of Denmark — is necessary for US security. Trump has claimed, without presenting one shred of evidence to back it up, that both China and Russia pose a threat to Greenland, and consequently, both the US and Western Europe.
Except for a handful of Greenland’s “elites,” the entire population of the island firmly reject the notion of becoming subjects of the US, and Trump’s bullying has been firmly resisted by Denmark, as well. Ironically, the crisis seems to be improving the relationship between independence-minded Greenland and its colonial master. On the other hand, it seems to be completely shattering the relationship between the US and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies, which have been united in their rejection of Trump’s demands. The countries that Trump announced would be subject to retaliatory tariffs all recently sent small contingents of troops to Greenland for joint exercises, as a show of resolve. Although in Norway’s case, Trump’s message to that country’s prime minister cited the failure to award him the Nobel Peace Prize as an additional grievance.
As we said, Greenland is only the latest diplomatic affront to the rest of the world by Trump. He engineered a bogus ceasefire and peace program in Gaza that has only allowed Israel to continue its genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people. A Trump-backed peace proposal to end the war in Ukraine, which was fortunately rejected, would have rewarded Russia for its aggression by forcing Ukraine to accede to all its demands, as well as grant control of a considerable amount of Ukraine’s mineral resources to US companies. In Venezuela, after carrying out a raid to depose dictator Nicolas Maduro under the pretense of a “law enforcement activity,” Trump ordered the seizure of the country’s vast oil resources, unilaterally declared himself “acting president of Venezuela,” and immediately dashed the hopes of Venezuelans hoping for relief from decades of political and economic repression by setting up Maduro’s equally authoritarian vice president as a puppet ruler. In Iran, after publicly backing anti-government protestors, telling them “help is on the way,” Trump abandoned plans to intervene, virtually inviting a vicious crackdown against dissidents by the government there.
How, then, are any of America’s supposed allies anywhere in the world, including this country, to remain confident in “our close relationship with the United States?” The lack of importance the Trump regime places on the long and heretofore beneficially intimate relationship between the US and the Philippines can be seen in his choice for the US ambassador to Manila. For one of the most important diplomatic posts in an extremely sensitive part of the world vital to US geopolitical interests, Trump did not appoint a seasoned diplomat with proven expertise in Asian affairs, but a restaurant owner with no diplomatic experience worth mentioning, who happens to be a personal friend and political supporter.
Obviously, it would be rash to discard our alliance with the US preemptively, merely out of fear of what might go wrong. But Trump’s deranged geopolitical antics must convince our leadership that it is perilous to presume regularity and respect for Philippine interests in that relationship under the current US regime, and that interactions must be handled with extreme delicacy.