Former President Biden condemned President Trump’s public musings about acquiring other countries, saying that approach runs counter to America’s core principles.
In a sit-down interview with the BBC on Monday, Biden blasted his successor for “the way we talk about now, that, ‘Well, this is the Gulf of America,’ ‘Maybe we’re going to have to take back Panama,’ ‘Maybe we need to acquire Greenland.’ ‘Maybe Canada should be the [51st state].’”
“What the hell’s going on here? What president ever talks like that? That’s not who we are,” the former president continued. “We’re about freedom, democracy, opportunity, not about confiscation.”
Biden focused intently on strengthening foreign alliances during his time in office and has been an adamant defender of NATO.
Asked about those “who fear that this Atlantic alliance, born in the Second World War, is now dying before our very eyes,” Biden told the BBC, “It’s a grave concern.”
“I think it would change the modern history of the world,” he added.
Amid frequent comments about making Canada the 51st state of the U.S., Trump all but ruled out using military force against the foreign neighbor in a recent interview.
“I think we’re not going to ever get to that point,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “I don’t see it with Canada. I just don’t see it. I have to be honest with you.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who met with Trump at the White House on Tuesday, has rebuffed the proposal to merge the two nations.
The president declined to make the same assertion about his ambitions with Greenland, which is currently owned by Denmark.
“Something could happen with Greenland. I’ll be honest. We need that for national and international security,” Trump said in the NBC interview. “I think it’s highly unlikely.”
“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,” he continued. “We need Greenland very badly.”
Trump added, “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.”
