This is my basic issue.
Greenland:
This is a real pet project of Trump's. It is an estate, it is the largest island in the world and there are only 56,000 people. Denmark is weak, there is already a US base on the island and there may be a lot of natural resources waiting to be discovered. Besides, empire is kind of fun.
Panama Canal:
Some shipping friends have complained to him about the cost of using the canal and they don't like it. America built the canal but American ships or those bringing goods to America do not receive any special contract. At the same time, it is one of the largest monopolies in the history of the world and it finances the entire government of Panama, allowing the rest of the country to be a huge money laundering enterprise without taxes to finance things like the Trump Hotel in Panama, once the largest building. in Latin America. Of course, that project was a complete disaster (I lived there) and it was renamed again and it's probably sad.
Canada:
It was a lame joke that he beats to death.
Now for the fun part.
(Warning: Do not take this seriously and definitely do not design any kind of trading strategy based on it. This is for fun)
What if I'm wrong? What if there is some kind of strategy here?
The obvious answer is that it is a move against China. It would aim to create some kind of schism in the world that will put the Americas (or at least the Caribbean and the east coast of America) firmly in the US sphere.
The Panama Canal
I did a deepdeep Almost all Chinese goods to Europe and Africa flow through the Suez Canal or around the Cape of Good Hope. For places like Brazil and Argentina, circumnavigating Cape Horn would be a moderate shipping headache but it wouldn't materially change the economics or trade with China. T
Two places stand out as more vulnerable – Venezuela and Cuba. Both are fragile economies that would have a serious trade problem with China if forced to go far. Almost half of Venezuela's oil goes to China and 50-70% of it goes through the canal.
If Trump really had imperial designs, Cuba would surely be the starting point and an invasion would not be something you would pre-empt but blocking his canal trade and tightening the screws on the economy later would be the basis for regime change.
Greenland:
There is some talk of tightening Arctic shipping lanes as some sort of grand master strategy but it doesn't make sense to me. Ships could use the Russian route instead because it is not so far away. Some people see some sort of global warming angle but to even get to Winnipeg, the coldest capital city in the world, global temperatures would have to rise 5-7 degrees Celsius. In that kind of situation, you would have a complete breakdown in almost everything.
I have to think that it is more about using resources that exist, or could exist. It would increase US land by 23% and the cash costs would be low. I mean, even if you bribed every person in Greenland with $1 million, that would only be $56 billion. Compare that to the $200 billion the US has already spent in Ukraine or the $953 billion in the scam called the Paycheck Protection Program.
Since tech bros have also taken over the Republican Party, that could be seen as a test case of how effectively they can run algos. If you can handle an election, why not try moving a country into the United States?
If that works, Greenland would just be a test case for…
Canada
Let's say Elon and the tech bros change their algo and the Greenlanders willingly join the US. There will be no bribes but US money will flow in and Greenlanders would have the option to move to the United States.
Not only would he achieve his goals for Greenland, but he would be a wonderful propaganda tool, a minnow on the fish hook that would be used to catch the whale – Canada.
The kernel of a plan is there and Trump was already hinting at the rest of it, saying he would use 'economic force' to convince Canada to join. The US can destroy almost any global economy with the wave of a pen and Canada is very vulnerable. Mostly if the economy is directed to the US, with no other options. Almost all Canadian oil pipelines go in one direction, and even some critical Canadian pipelines for domestic Use take a summary through the US.
Now Canada is also the US's largest export market so it could deliver a lot of pain to the US as well but if the US were to consistently undermine Canada's economy through trade and other methods that are not used, while benefiting from social media, would have a chance. Drive the loonie to sub-50 cents and offer to join at par and introduce free movement into a better paying economy and that is a strong offer.
To be honest, I think the main problem with it is the Republican side, because if you gave proportional votes to the House, the Senate and the electoral college, the results of the US election would very different. But Canada is very rich in resource wealth and in some sort of robot-controlled, no-immigration world, you could run an impressive closed economy.
Just hope God doesn't let this clown anywhere near any compromise:
Kevin O'Leary
