Throughout both of his presidencies, U.S. president Donald Trump has expressed a desire to expand the United States' territory and influence through both land purchases and military means.
Trump first stated his desire to annex Greenland during his first presidency; he has pursued a campaign to acquire Greenland during his second presidency. He has also suggested annexation or taking control of Canada, Mexico, the Panama Canal, the Gaza Strip, and Cuba. After proposing an invasion of Venezuela, Trump's second administration removed President Nicolás Maduro as part of Operation Absolute Resolve and stated the U.S. would "run" Venezuela; the Venezuelan government, led by acting president Delcy Rodríguez, remains in place but is far more amicable to American interests than it was under Maduro. Amid the 2026 Iran war, Trump lauded about invading and seizing control of both the Strait of Hormuz and Kharg Island from Iran.
Trump's determination to treat the Western Hemisphere as a U.S. sphere of influence has been characterized as a revival of the Monroe Doctrine in what has become known as the Donroe Doctrine. On his orders, U.S. federal agencies adopted new names for shared international waters, renaming the Gulf of Mexico as "Gulf of America" in 2025 and Lake Ontario as "Lake America" in 2026. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the second Trump administration's foreign policy as a matter of operating as a superpower nation and for national security purposes. Numerous politicians outside the U.S. have criticized Trump's annexation comments. The Democratic Party has introduced bills to prevent the Trump administration from invading countries without the approval of Congress.
Background
The last territory acquired by the United States came in 1947 with the acquisition of the Northern Mariana Islands, Caroline, and Marshall Islands. Of these islands, only the Northern Mariana Islands would become a U.S. territory, with the others becoming independent in the 1980s and 1990s under Compacts of Free Association.
During both of his presidencies, U.S. president Donald Trump expressed a desire to expand the United States' territory through both land purchases and military means. Multiple authors have observed that Trump's imperialist and expansionist mentalities had intensified in 2026 as proven by patterns of increased aggression against multiple countries.
Trump's determination to treat the Western Hemisphere as a U.S. sphere of influence has been characterized as a revival of the Monroe Doctrine. The 2025 National Security Strategy announced the "Trump Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, also known as the Donroe Doctrine. Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that the European Union has no right to define how the United States can operate its national security and that Trump is responding to defend their country. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller explained the administration's foreign policy by invoking the country's position as a superpower: "We're a superpower. And under President Trump, we are going to conduct ourselves as a superpower." According to a February 2025 poll by YouGov, only 4% of Americans support American expansion if it requires force, 33% of Americans support expansion without the use of force, and 48% of Americans oppose expansion altogether.
North America On September 7, 2026, President Trump posted a map with an American flag covering all of North America, as well as Iceland and islands in the Caribbean.
Canada
Upon retaking office in January 2025, President Trump began tying his agenda of trade tariffs to the U.S. annexation of Canada. Two separate crises, one of fentanyl smuggling, and one of migrant flows from Canada, were key U.S. grievances. In fact, Ontario noted a substantial increase of illicit narcotics moving from the U.S. into Canada.
This form of economic coercion started a Buy Canadian movement in Central Canada and tourism boycott of the U.S. in Eastern Canada. Ex-prime minister Justin Trudeau and some political figures on the ideological spectrum were in opposition to tariffs. Trudeau resigned as PM shortly afterwards, to be replaced by former central bank governor Mark Carney. Since then, President Trump has repeatedly reiterated his call for Canada to join the United States as "a state" with negligible uptake in Central Canada. These "51st state" calls have formed a backdrop against the ongoing CanadaU.S. trade dispute. Calls to rename Lake Ontario into "" were also floated by the president in August 2026; on August 27, he signed an executive order renaming the lake in the U.S. Geographic Names Information System.
Greenland Proposed acquisition
Trump first stated his desire to annex Greenland in 2019, during his first presidency. In his second presidency, Trump has pursued a campaign to acquire Greenland. In December 2024, Trump stated a further proposal for the United States to purchase Greenland from Denmark, describing ownership and control of the island as "an absolute necessity" for national security purposes. This builds upon a prior offer from Trump to buy Greenland during his first term, which the Danish Realm refused, causing him to cancel his August 2019 visit to Denmark. On January 7, 2025, Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. visited Greenland's capital city Nuuk alongside Charlie Kirk to hand out MAGA hats. At a press conference the following day, Trump refused to rule out military or economic force in order to take over Greenland or the Panama Canal. However, he did rule out military force in taking over Canada. On January 12, then-Vice President-elect JD Vance repeatedly stated that controlling Greenland is critical for U.S. national security and said there's "a deal to be made in Greenland". Asked on January 14 by Senator Mazie Hirono about the potential use of military force to integrate Greenland into the United States, Pete Hegseth stated he would not provide details in a public forum. On January 14, the Trump-affiliated Nelk Boys also visited Nuuk, handing out dollar bills to locals.
On January 16, the CEOs of major Danish companies Novo Nordisk, Vestas and Carlsberg among others were assembled for a crisis meeting in the Ministry of State to discuss the situation. On the subsequent day, former chief executive Friis Arne Petersen in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the situation as "historically unheard of", while Noa Redington, special adviser to former prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, compared the international pressure on Denmark to that during the 2005 Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. Political commentator Henrik Qvortrup stated on the 17th that a mention of Greenland during Trump's inaugural address on January 20 would confirm Trump's seriousness, making the situation one of Denmark's largest international crises since World War II.
On February 6, 2025, a poll conducted by USA Today between January 7, 2025, and January 10, 2025, was released which showed that only 11% of Americans said that Trump should purchase or annex Greenland. 29% of Americans said that they thought that acquiring Greenland was a good but unrealistic idea, and 53% of Americans said that they don't support the idea of annexing Greenland. On May 4, 2025, during an interview on NBC's Meet the Press, when asked about the potential use of military force to annex Greenland, Trump replied, "I don't rule it out. I don't say I'm going to do it, but I don't rule out anything. No, not there. We need Greenland very badly. Greenland is a very small amount of people, which we'll take care of, and we'll cherish them, and all of that. But we need that for international security."
In January 2026, Trump expressed renewed interest in annexing Greenland, refusing to rule out military force and threatening tariffs on participating countries of Operation Arctic Endurance, A January 2026 Quinnipiac poll, found that 86% of American respondents opposed using military force to take over Greenland, and 55% opposed buying it.
Make Greenland Great Again Act On January 13, 2025, legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Andy Ogles to authorize the United States Government to acquire Greenland on behalf of the U.S., granting to Congress a 60-day review period prior to integration of Greenlandic territory into the United States. As of the date of introduction, the bill had 12 co-sponsors and had been referred to the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs for review. On January 26, 2025, former Minister for Greenland Tom Høyem stated that the 1917 agreement with the United Kingdom still stood, giving them the right of first refusal in the event of any sale of the islands.
Red, White, and Blueland Act of 2025 On February 10, 2025, Republican representative Buddy Carter introduced legislation which would rename Greenland to "Red, White, and Blue land" and allow U.S. president Donald Trump to "purchase or otherwise acquire" Greenland. Carter further stated, "When our Negotiator-in-Chief signs this historic agreement, we will proudly welcome the people of what is now Greenland to join the freest nation in history. President Trump has identified this purchase as a national security priority." The legislation gives the office of the Secretary of the Interior six months after its passage to ensure that federal documents are updated to reflect the name change.
Espionage In early May 2025, the Danish government summoned the United States Ambassador to Denmark in response to a Wall Street Journal report that officials working for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard had instructed the heads of the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency to collect intelligence on Greenlandic independence movement and the attitudes toward American resource extraction efforts in the territory. In late August 2025, the Danish government again summoned the U.S. ambassador after at least three American citizens, allegedly with ties to Trump, were reported attempting covert operations to foment secessionism. DR reported that one American was attempting to gather a list of Greenlanders to recruit for a secessionist movement.
Latin America Colombia In January 2026, following the 2026 United States intervention in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, Trump made several comments about Colombian president Gustavo Petro, accusing him of facilitating or taking part in cocaine trafficking into the United States.Trump talks about attack on Venezuela 3 January 2025 at 1:28:20 Trump said during a interview that "Columbia is very sick too, run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. And he's not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you". Asked by a reporter if there would be a military operation against Colombia similar to the one in Venezuela, Trump responded "It sounds good to me".
Cuba
During the 2026 Cuban crisis and American blockade of the island, Trump stated, "I do believe I will have the honor of taking Cuba." When questioned by a journalist, Trump clarified "in some form," then going on to say, "whether I free it, take it, I think I can do anything I want with it." The following day Trump stated, "we will be doing something with Cuba very soon." Trump's Secretary of State Marco Rubio is a Cuban-American and has called for new leadership on the island.
Mexico