Page 59 from: Recycling International Jan/Feb 2025

BECK’S

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What will Trump bring?

As I write this column, the

world is watching Donald J.

Trump being inaugurated as

the 47th president of the USA.

Most people and their govern-

ments are anxiously waiting to

see what will happen when he

is in power.

And not without reason. During his
presidential campaign, Trump scared
many nations with plans he wants to
execute during his presidency. These
are the most feared: deport undocu-
mented migrants; cut climate regula-
tions; withdraw from the Paris climate
agreement and increase production of
US fossil fuels; and end the Ukraine
and Israel-Gaza conflicts. In addition,
Trump proposes to add import tariffs
of at least 10% on most foreign goods
to cut the trade deficit. Imports from
China could face an additional 60%.

The most interesting and disturbing
ideas are his imperialist designs on
Greenland, Canada and Panama,
which often sound like the ramblings
of a real estate shark who equates for-
eign and trade policy with a hunt for
new deals. Trump wants to buy
Greenland and make it part of the
USA because of its strategic location
and resources such as rare earths, pre-
cious metals, graphite and uranium.
He is not the first US president to float
this idea. When the US bought Alaska
in 1867, President Andrew Johnson

also considered purchasing Greenland.
And at the end of World War II, the
Truman administration offered
Denmark US$ 100 million for the
island.
In addition, Trump has said he wants
Canada to join the US as its 54th state.
Canada has declined the offer. He also
wants to recover ownership of the
Panama Canal because about 40% of
US container shipping currently travels
through the canal, a shortcut between

the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean
Sea and, beyond that, the Atlantic
Ocean. Trump says the charges to sail
through the canal are too high and US
needs ‘economic security’, falsely
alleging that it is being ‘operated by
China’. Panama’s president Jose Raul
Mulino disputes the claim. ‘There is
absolutely no Chinese interference nor
involvement in anything to do with the
Panama Canal,’ he said in December.
‘The sovereignty of our canal is not
negotiable and is part of our history of
struggle and an irreversible conquest.’
Well, we’ll have to see what will hap-
pen during the weeks, months and
years to come. To end with a lighter
note, here are a couple of my favourite
Trump jokes.
Donald is walking out of the White
House towards his limo, when a possi-
ble assassin steps forward and aims a
gun. A secret service agent, new on
the job, shouts: ‘Mickey Mouse’. This
startles the would-be assassin and he
is captured. Later, the agent’s supervi-
sor takes him aside and asks: ‘What in
the hell made you shout Mickey
Mouse?’ Blushing, the agent replies: ‘I
got nervous. I meant to shout
“Donald, duck!”’
North Korea’s ‘Supreme Leader’ Kim
Jong Un is sitting in his office. He
proudly tells his advisers: ‘North Korea
will be the first country to send people
to the sun.’ His audience breaks out in
applause. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is
watching this live on TV. He calls Kim
Jong Un and asks him: ‘How are you
going to send people to the sun? It’s
too hot’. Kim Jong Un turns to his
advisers: ‘What an idiot. We can send
them at night’. Again, they break out
in applause. On hearing this, Trump
says to his own advisers: ‘What an
idiot, there’s no sun at night.’

Manfred Beck

‘ I m e a n t t o s h o u t
“ D o n a l d , d u c k ! ” ’

59_beck39;s.indd 59 29-01-2025 11:34