NewsNation Guest Says Trump’s Greenland, Panama Canal ‘Wild Cards’ Have World Leaders On Edge: They ‘Know to Take Him Seriously’
Alex Sanz, the deputy managing editor and politics director of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, told NewsNation Thursday that recent comments President-elect Donald Trump has made about Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal have world leaders paying close attention.
Sanz remarked the online “wild cards” from Trump could prove to be effective as he prepares to negotiate his foreign policy agenda and that they might all be part of a strategy to keep leaders around the world on edge.
On NewsNation Live, guest anchor Keleigh Beeson noted Trump had recently referred to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the “governor” of his country. Trump has also spoken out numerous times this week about seizing the Panama Canal and seeking to purchase Greenland from Denmark.
She asked Sanz for his take on Trump’s seemingly erratic social media posts. Sanz said:
Going into these next 25 days, get ready because we are entering this new era of American governance, which is very different than what we’ve seen the past number of years and potentially even more different than what we saw during the first Trump administration. I think when you look at the big picture of what’s happening with a lot of these posts around Panama, around Canada, around Greenland, we’re looking at pressure coming in different directions, whether it’s tariffs, whether it’s shipping, whether it’s the presidents-elect’s view on what the world order should be.
You know, in the past, we’ve seen these as negotiating tactics, as let’s try to bring everyone to the table, have the conversation, but also the pressure campaign, as we’ve seen even here with the congressional nominations for his cabinet. And the reaction from Congress is beginning to have a conversation. And this conversation is now happening essentially every day in almost every corner of the world, as many people, world leaders and people here in this country wonder what will happen on day one. Potentially what we’re seeing now is that foundation being laid for a very interesting first couple of days, first 100 days and beyond what America could look like, what policies could look like going into this second Trump administration?
Beeson said she agreed with Sanz that Trump had previously made “bold statements to set up negotiations.”
She asked him, “Do you believe that is likely the strategy here? And if so, do you think it will bring leaders to the negotiating table? Is it effective?”
“In some cases, it is,” Sanz responded. “And we have seen already, just over the past month or so, we have seen Justin Trudeau of Canada fly down tomorrow Lago to meet with President-elect Trump. He heard the message about the tariffs.”
Sanz concluded:
So, world leaders in North America and really around the world are paying attention. And again, because President-elect Trump in the past has sometimes said one thing, done something else, sometimes the same thing. There is always an element of how far will he go, what will he do, what will he not do? But time and again, world leaders know to take him seriously because this is not a conventional administration, and this time without having the prospect of reelection in four years. And given what he said about potentially pushing boundaries across every aspect of governance, there are many wildcards going into January.
Watch above via NewsNation.
