In provocative Christmas message, Donald Trump repeats controversial remarks on Canada, Greenland and Panama

Outgoing President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump sent completely different Christmas messages on Wednesday, December 25, with Trump repeating his controversial remarks about the Panama Canal, Canada and Greenland.

While Joe Biden chose classic phrases for his “last” Christmas “as president”, hoping that the country would continue “to seek the light of freedom and love, kindness and compassion, dignity and decency”, Donald Trump sent a series of provocative messages on his social network Truth.

Panama, “a country that rips us off”

After threatening on Saturday to regain control of the Panama Canal, the president-elect notably repeated his accusations of Chinese interference. “Merry Christmas to all, including the wonderful Chinese soldiers who lovingly, but illegally, exploit the Panama Canal.”

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Trump, who said Saturday that American ships should pay less to pass through the canal linking the Pacific to the Atlantic, took the opportunity to name Kevin Marino Cabrera as the next ambassador to Panama, “a country that is ripping us off […] far beyond their wildest dreams.” The Panama Canal, built by the United States and inaugurated in 1914, passed into Panamanian hands on December 31, 1999, under treaties signed in 1977 by then-US President Jimmy Carter.

“The canal is not controlled, directly or indirectly, by China, the European Community, the United States, or any other power. As a Panamanian, I firmly reject any expression that distorts this reality,” Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino retorted on Sunday, before an anti-Trump demonstration brought together about a hundred people in front of the US embassy in Panama.

A message for the “51st State” and for Greenland

Another target of Trump’s Christmas message is Canada, which he continues to consider as a possible “51st state”, calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau his “governor”: “If Canada became our 51st state, their taxes would be cut by over 60%, their businesses would immediately double in size, and they would be protected militarily like no other country in the world.”

Donald Trump also reiterated his claims to Greenland, an icy territory four times the size of France that he considers strategic: “The people of Greenland, whom the United States needs for their national security, want the United States to be there, and we will be!”

“Greenland is ours” and is “not for sale”, declared Mute Egede, the Prime Minister of the autonomous territory belonging to Denmark, on Monday. He also sends a message to the 37 death row inmates who were commuted by Joe Biden: “Go to hell!”. Finally, he ends by writing: “In 26 days, we will make America great again. Merry Christmas!”