Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared Thursday that President Trump’s interest in taking control of Greenland and the Panama Canal “is not a joke” and vital to US national security interests.
“This is not a joke,” Rubio said during an appearance on SiriusXM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show,” when asked specifically about the president’s comments about Greenland.
“This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land,” the secretary of state continued. “This is in our national interest and it needs to be solved.”
Rubio, 53, downplayed Trump’s previous refusal to rule out using military force to acquire the territory controlled by Denmark.
“This is a businessman who’s involved in politics, not a politician involved in politics,” Rubio explained. “So he approaches these issues from a transactional, business point of view.”
“He is not going to begin what he views as a negotiation or a conversation by taking any leverage off the table.”
“He wants to buy it, he wants to pay for it,” the top US diplomat insisted.
Rubio explained that the Arctic Circle is going to become “critical for shipping lanes” as Trump expands domestic US energy production and that he fears Denmark won’t be able to stop China if the communist power sets its sights on Greenland.
“The Arctic has some of the world’s most valuable shipping lanes in the world … We need to be able to defend that,” he told Kelly.
“It is completely realistic to believe that the Chinese will eventually, maybe in the short term, try to do in Greenland what they have done at the Panama Canal and in other places, and that is install facilities that give them access to the Arctic, with the cover of a Chinese company,” Rubio continued, warning that the Chinese companies would serve “a dual purpose” and allow the US adversary to dispatch naval vessels in a moment of conflict.
Rubio, whose first international trip as secretary of state will be to Panama this weekend, said he plans to discuss ownership of the US-built canal during his visit.
“I think the president’s been pretty clear he wants to administer the canal again,” the Trump Cabinet official told Kelly.
Rubio added that he believes Panama is in “violation of the treaty agreement” regarding the canal because Chinese companies are being allowed to operate port facilities on both the entry and exit points of the canal, as well much of the infrastructure that surrounds the key waterway.
The secretary of state argued that the Chinese government could order the companies to shut the canal down at a moment’s notice.
“That’s what President Trump is raising. And we’re going to address that topic,” Rubio said of his upcoming visit to Panama City.
“It’s not in the national interest of the United States to have a canal we paid for and we built used as leverage and a weapon against us.”
Ahead of Rubio’s trip, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino insisted Thursday that the canal is not for sale.
“It’s impossible,” Munilo said at a press conference, according to Politico. “I cannot negotiate, and much less open a process of negotiation, over the canal. That’s sealed. The canal belongs to Panama.”
