トランプ氏、領土的野心あらわに カナダ以外には軍事力行使も排除せず

【パームビーチＡＦＰ＝時事】ドナルド・トランプ次期米大統領は７日、太平洋と大西洋を結ぶ交通の要衝「パナマ運河」の管理権を得るために軍事力の行使を排除しない姿勢を示した。一方、隣国カナダに対しては軍事力の行使を排除し、「経済的圧力」をかけると明言した。米国の同盟国であるパナマとカナダからは冷たくあしらわれた。（写真は米フロリダ州ウエストパームビーチで記者会見するドナルド・トランプ次期米大統領）
　米議会が昨年１１月の大統領選でのトランプ氏の勝利を承認した後、トランプ氏は南部フロリダ州の自邸で記者会見し、アラブ首長国連邦（ＵＡＥ）企業が米国のテクノロジー関連事業に２００億ドル（約３兆１５７０億円）を投資すると発表したが、話題はすぐさま選挙戦でも繰り返し言及した内容となった。
　トランプ氏は今後４年間の施政方針を説明しながら「われわれが大統領選に勝利して以来、世界が私たちを見る目が一変した。外国の人々が電話をかけてきて『ありがとう、ありがとう』と言ってくれた」と語った。
　さらに、「メキシコ湾」を「アメリカ湾」に改名する意向を表明し、不法移民の国境通過を止めなければ、高い関税を課すとメキシコを脅した。
　長年切望してきたデンマーク領グリーンランドとパナマ運河の取得については、軍事力を行使する可能性を排除せず、最近死去したジミー・カーター元大統領が在任時にパナマ運河の管理権引き渡しを認めたことを批判した。
　カナダを服従させるのにも軍事力を行使するかと問われると、「ノー。経済的圧力だ」と回答する一方、「人為的に引かれた」米国とカナダの国境線の抹消は、国家安全保障に恩恵をもたらすとの認識を示した。
　トランプ氏の他の多くの発言と同様に、冗談や誇張と純粋な政策を切り離すのは難しいが、今回のコメントは領土拡張をめぐる発言のエスカレーションと見なされ、否定的な反応を引き起こした。
　カナダのジャスティン・トルドー首相は、同国が米国に併合される「可能性はゼロに等しい」と一蹴した。
　パナマのハビエル・マルティネスアチャ外相も「パナマ運河の主権に交渉の余地はない」と一蹴。パナマ運河が中国軍によって運営されているとのトランプ氏の主張については、「運河を運営しているのはパナマ人だけであり、今後もそうあり続ける」と述べた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2025/01/08-19:12）

Donald Trump threatened military action to secure the Panama Canal and economic force against neighboring Canada in meandering remarks Tuesday that drew firm and frosty responses from the two US allies.
Speaking after Congress certified his election victory, the Republican president-elect gathered reporters at his home in southern Florida to announce a $20 billion Emirati investment in US technology. But his remarks quickly became a rally-style rant as he returned at length to familiar campaign themes.
Since we won the election, the whole perception of the whole world is different. People from other countries have called me. They said, 'Thank you, thank you,' Trump said as he set out his agenda for the coming four years.
The billionaire announced he was going to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America and threatened the US's southern neighbor again with massive tariffs if it does not halt illegal border crossings.
He refused to rule out using military force to seize Greenland and the Panama Canal -- both of which he has long coveted -- criticizing recently deceased Jimmy Carter for permitting a handover to local control of the Central American waterway when he was president.
Asked if he would use military force to bring Canada to heel, the incoming president said no -- economic force, but added that eliminating the artificially drawn US-Canada border would be a boon to national security.
As with many of Trump's pronouncements, it was difficult to separate humor or bombast from genuine policy, but the remarks will be seen as an escalation of his rhetoric on territorial expansion, and drew a dismissive response from across the border.
There is a snowball's chance in hell that Canada will merge with the United States, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded.
Panama's Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha meanwhile said the sovereignty of our canal is not negotiable.
Addressing a claim by Trump that Chinese soldiers operate the waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific, the minister said: the only hands operating the canal are Panamanian and that is how it is going to stay.
- 'A world that's burning' -
Built by the United States, the Panama Canal was handed to the Central American country a quarter-century ago and President Jose Raul Mulino has refused to entertain negotiations over its control.
Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country. It's being operated by China -- China! -- and we gave the Panama Canal to Panama, we didn't give it to China, Trump said. And they've abused it, they've abused that gift.
Trump has also ruffled European feathers with a separate territorial proposal -- to buy Greenland, an island abutting the emerging Arctic geopolitical battleground that the former real estate developer sees as important to US security.
Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., arrived on the island shortly before his father's remarks for what was described as a personal visit, with no official meetings scheduled.
Denmark -- which Greenland is an autonomous territory of -- is a US ally and a fellow member of NATO, another target of Trump's ire as he demanded that nations in the western alliance boost their defense spending.
Europe is in for a tiny fraction of the money that we're in, Trump said. We have a thing called the ocean in between us, right? Why are we in for billions and billions of dollars more money than Europe?
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told broadcaster TV2 she didn't have the fantasy Trump's plans for Greenland would ever get off the ground.
In his foreign-policy focused speech, Trump also hammered President Joe Biden over the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, repeating a favorite false claim that America had no wars during the first Trump term.
The president-elect -- who spent much of the news conference focused on Biden -- also hammered the White House over the 2025 transition, claiming that officials were trying everything they can to make it more difficult.
Trump, who returns to the White House on January 20, has not acknowledged his 2020 defeat and refused to participate in the transfer of power to Biden.
He baselessly accused his rival of being behind the multiple legal challenges he faces and vowed to overturn the Democrat's executive order banning offshore oil and gas development off swathes of US coastline.
Later that evening, he posted internet memes showing Canada as part of the United States.