Trump says he will reopen Alcatraz prison

ON UNCEDED NATIVE LAND

JILL COLVIN and MICHAEL R. SISAK
Sun, May 4, 2025 
AP


FILE - Fog lingers behind Alcatraz Island, July 1, 2015, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS

Paint peels off a wall of the former Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on Nov. 10, 2017, on Alcatraz Island near San Francisco. (AP Photo/Michael R. Sisak)ASSOCIATED PRESS

FILE - People tour the main cell house on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, March 15, 2021, as the historic island prison was reopened to visitors after being closed since Dec. 2020, because of the coronavirus threat. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS


FILE - A boat makes its way toward Alcatraz Island with the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in the background in this view from Sausalito, Calif., Dec. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS


NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump says he is directing his government to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the notorious former prison on a hard-to-reach California island off San Francisco that has been closed for more than 60 years.

In a post on his Truth Social site Sunday evening, Trump wrote that, “For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering. When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

“That is why, today," he said, “I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.”

Trump’s directive to rebuild and reopen the long-shuttered penitentiary was the latest salvo in his effort to overhaul how and where federal prisoners and immigration detainees are locked up. But such a move would likely be an expensive and challenging proposition. The prison was closed in 1963 due to crumbling infrastructure and the high costs of repairing and supplying the island facility, because everything from fuel to food had to be brought by boat.

Bringing the facility up to modern-day standards would require massive investments at a time when the Bureau of Prisons has been shuttering prisons for similar infrastructure issues.

The prison — infamously inescapable due to the strong ocean currents and cold Pacific waters that surround it — was known as the “The Rock" and housed some of the nation's most notorious criminals, including gangster Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly.

It has long been part of the cultural imagination and has been the subject of numerous movies, including “The Rock” starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage.

Still in the 29 years it was open, 36 men attempted 14 separate escapes, according to the FBI. Nearly all were caught or didn’t survive the attempt.

The fate of three particular inmates — John Anglin, his brother Clarence and Frank Morris — is of some debate and was dramatized in the 1979 film “Escape from Alcatraz” starring Clint Eastwood.

Alcatraz Island is now a major tourist site that is operate by the National Park Service and is a designated National Historic Landmark.

Trump, returning to the White House on Sunday night after a weekend in Florida, said he’d come up with the idea because of frustrations with “radicalized judges” who have insisted those being deported receive due process. Alcatraz, he said, has long been a “symbol of law and order. You know, it’s got quite a history.”

A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement that the agency “will comply with all Presidential Orders.” The spokesperson did not immediately answer questions from The Associated Press regarding the practicality and feasibility of reopening Alcatraz or the agency’s role in the future of the former prison given the National Park Service’s control of the island.

Trump says ordered rebuild and reopening of defunct US prison Alcatraz
AFP

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat whose district includes the island, questioned the feasibility of reopening the prison after so many years. “It is now a very popular national park and major tourist attraction. The President’s proposal is not a serious one,” she wrote on X.

The island serves as a veritable time machine to a bygone era of corrections. The Bureau of Prisons currently has 16 penitentiaries performing the same high-security functions as Alcatraz, including its maximum security facility in Florence, Colorado, and the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, which is home to the federal death chamber.

The order comes as Trump has been clashing with the courts as he tries to send accused gang members to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, without due process. Trump has also floated the legally dubious idea of sending some federal U.S. prisoners to the Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT.

Trump has also directed the opening of a detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to hold up to 30,000 of what he has labeled the “worst criminal aliens."

The Bureau of Prisons has faced myriad crises in recent years and has been subjected to increased scrutiny after Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide at a federal jail in New York City in 2019. An AP investigation uncovered deep, previously unreported flaws within the Bureau of Prisons. AP reporting has disclosed widespread criminal activity by employees, dozens of escapes, chronic violence, deaths and severe staffing shortages that have hampered responses to emergencies, including assaults and suicides.

The AP’s investigation also exposed rampant sexual abuse at a federal women’s prison in Dublin, California. Last year, President Joe Biden signed a law strengthening oversight of the agency after AP reporting spotlighted its many flaws.

At the same time, the Bureau of Prisons is operating in a state of flux — with a recently installed new director and a redefined mission that includes taking in thousands of immigration detainees at some of its prisons and jails under an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security. The agency last year closed several facilities, in part to cut costs, but is also in the process of building a new prison in Kentucky.

___

Sisak reported from Philadelphia. Associated Press writers Gary Fields in Washington, Aamer Madhani in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Michael Balsamo in New York contributed to this report.

Trump Takes Don Jr.’s Advice With Plan to Reopen Infamous Prison

Matt Young
Sun, May 4, 2025 

Donald Trump appears to have taken the advice of his eldest son after announcing the reopening of America’s most famous prison.

The president revealed his intentions to “rebuild and open” Alcatraz just months after Donald Trump Jr. made the suggestion on social media.

“For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Sunday night.

“When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

A view shows the Alcatraz Island at San Francisco Bay in San Francisco, California, U.S., June, 29, 2022. / CARLOS BARRIA / REUTERS

The president said he was directing the Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to begin work on rebuilding a “substantially enlarged” facility.

Trump Jr. initially made the suggestion on X in January after his father announced he had signed an executive order that would send the “worst” criminal offenders to Guantanamo Bay.

“Now this is a great idea. Maybe we should also reopen Alcatraz?!?!” Trump Jr., 47, wrote at the time.



Now this is a great idea. Maybe we should also reopen Alcatraz?!?! https://t.co/70dUlZVHvA

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 30, 2025

Trump blamed the reopening of Alcatraz on “radicalized judges” to reporters on Sunday.

“I guess because the judges, so many of these radicalized judges, they want to have trials for every single, think of it, every single person that’s in our country, that come in illegally, that would mean millions of trials,” Trump said.

“It was just an idea I had,” he added. “It’s long been a symbol, Alcatraz, of whatever it is,” he continued. “It’s a sad symbol, but it’s a symbol of law and order. It’s got quite a history, frankly.”

.@POTUS on reopening Alcatraz to house our most ruthless, violent criminals: "It's a symbol of law and order and it's got quite a history, frankly — so I think we're going to do that, and we're looking at it right now." pic.twitter.com/YWfvfTDNaa

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 5, 2025

Alcatraz, now a tourist attraction, is most famous for its use as a U.S. penitentiary. Starting in 1934, more than 1500 prisoners were held on this small prison island until its closure in 1963. The site, in San Francisco, was notable for its remote features and its almost impossible ways to escape. It housed well-known criminals of the time including Al Capone and George “Machine-Gun” Kelly.

It closed due to soaring maintenance costs, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which estimated an additional $3-5 million was needed at the time to keep the prison running outside of daily operational costs.

“No longer will we tolerate these Serial Offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our street,” Trump wrote in his Sunday post. “That is why, today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.”

Trump flagged that even judges who failed to work with his administration were at risk of incarceration.

“We will no longer be held hostage to criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job and allow us to remove criminals, who came into our Country illegally,” the president said. “The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE. We will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Trump orders rebuilding and reopening of defunct US prison Alcatraz

AFP
Mon, May 5, 2025 


Alcatraz prison closed in 1963 due to high operating costs (JOSH EDELSON)JOSH EDELSON/AFP/AFP


US President Donald Trump said Sunday he had directed officials to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz prison, the notorious federal jail based on a small island in California that closed six decades ago.

"REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!" the Republican wrote on his Truth Social platform.

"Today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America's most ruthless and violent Offenders," he said.

Alcatraz closed in 1963 due to high operating costs after being open for just 29 years, according to the US Bureau of Prisons, and now serves as a tourist attraction.

Located two kilometers (1.25 miles) off the coast of San Francisco and with a capacity of just 336 prisoners, it held several well-known criminals, including Prohibition-era mob boss Al Capone, and saw many fantastical escape attempts by inmates.

Trump has made cracking down on crime -- particularly those committed by migrants -- a key element of his second term in the White House.

"When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That's the way it's supposed to be," Trump wrote Sunday

"No longer will we tolerate these Serial Offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our streets," he said.

- 'Not a serious' proposal -

The island fortress entered American cultural lore after a 1962 escape by three inmates, notably Frank Morris, which became an inspiration for the film "Escape from Alcatraz" starring Clint Eastwood.

Mexico’s president says she denied Trump offer to target cartels with US troops
The Hill

It was closed on March 21, 1963, soon after the escape, because it was three times more expensive to operate than any other federal prison, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

The major expenses were caused by the physical isolation of the island, with food, supplies, fuel and even drinking water having to be brought to the island every week.

Besides the operating costs, an estimated $3 million-$5 million more was needed just for maintenance and restoration work, the Bureau of Prisons said.

It reopened to the public in 1973 as a tourist site, bringing in more than one million visitors each year.

"It is now a very popular national park and major tourist attraction," said former speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who represents San Francisco.

"The President's proposal is not a serious one," she said on social media platform X.

Trump has vowed to crack down on crime, particularly by migrants, and has invoked the 1798 Enemies Act -- previously used only during wartime -- to deport those his administration say are criminals and gang members.

His administration has paid El Salvador millions of dollars to lock up scores of migrants it deported there, with Trump also repeatedly saying he would be open to sending US citizens convicted of violent crimes to the Central American country.

UN experts said last week that the United States appears to be intentionally denying due process rights to more than 250 Venezuelans and Salvadorans who were deported.

bur-bjt/jgc/dhc/pbt

Trump orders reopening of notorious Alcatraz prison

Telegraph reporters
Sun, May 4, 2025 


Alcatraz operated from 1934 to 1963


Donald Trump has ordered the US Bureau of Prisons to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the notorious former prison off the coast of San Francisco.

In a message posted on Truth Social, his online platform, on Sunday night, the US President announced his plan to turn the small island into symbol of law and order, to deter “vicious” criminals whom he called the “dregs of society”.

“For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat criminal offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than misery and suffering,” Mr Trump wrote.

“When we were a more serious nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.

“That is why, today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent offenders.”

He added: “The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE.”

The US President on board Air Force One on Sunday night as he flew back to Washington - Leah Millis

The prison, which housed some of America’s most dangerous and escape-prone criminals, including figures like gangster Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly, closed in 1963 due to high operating costs. Alcatraz Island is currently operated as a tourist site.

Located two kilometres (1.25 miles) off the coast of San Francisco, it was known as “The Rock” and regarded as inescapable due to the strong ocean currents and cold Pacific waters that surrounds it.

Still in the 29 years it was open, 36 men attempted 14 separate escapes, according to the FBI. Nearly all were caught or did not survive the attempt.

One of the most famous escapes involved Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers, John and Clarence, who were never found after fleeing the prison in 1962.

This 1962 photo shows inmate John Anglin’s cell and the dummy head used to disguise the escape

The order to reopen the infamous island jail comes as Mr Trump tries to send accused gang members to a prison in El Salvador without due process.

Mr Trump has also directed the opening of a detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to hold up to 30,000 of what he has labelled the “worst criminal aliens”.

A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement that the agency would “comply with all Presidential Orders”.

The spokesperson did not immediately answer questions regarding the practicality and feasibility of reopening Alcatraz or the agency’s role in the future of the former prison given the National Park Service’s control of the island.

The Bureau of Prisons currently has 16 penitentiaries performing the same high-security functions as Alcatraz, including its maximum security facility in Florence, Colorado, and the US penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, which is home to the federal death chamber.

'Three times more expensive': Onlookers skewer Trump's call to 'reopen Alcatraz'

Story by David McAfee
RAW STORY

U.S. President Donald Trump sits in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 7, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY© provided by RawStory

Donald Trump on Sunday suggested reopening the prison on Alcatraz Island for serious criminals, but he got a swift fact check and some mockery, too.

Trump over the weekend made his announcement on his own social media site, Truth Social.

"REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ! For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering," the president said. "When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. No longer will we tolerate these Serial Offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our streets."

The near-immediate fact check came from Kaitlan Collins of CNN, who pointed out the expenses necessary for such an operation.

"Trump says he wants to reopen Alcatraz as a functioning prison for the most violent offenders. As the Bureau of Prisons notes on its website, it was closed in the 1960s because it was three times more expensive to operate than other prisons," she wrote.

Yashar Ali of HuffPost made a similar announcement.

"BREAKING President Trump says he has ordered Alcatraz, the former prison on Alcatraz Island just over one mile off San Francisco’s shore, to be re-opened," Ali wrote. "Alcatraz is controlled by the National Park Service, but given that it’s been a museum for many decades, I would imagine it would take years for it to be properly (key word: properly) re-opened as a federal prison."


Related video: Trump says he will reopen Alcatraz prison (The Canadian Press)


Journalist Josh Marshall also chimed in:

"I guess he hasn’t heard about Florence. But the real thing here is that this guy operates in a world of 1950s movies," Marshall wrote on Sunday.

Columnist Michael A. Cohen said, "There’s pretty much zero chance he’s heard of Supermax prisons."

Conservative anti-Trump lawyer George Conway seized on that comment, adding, "Or knows that Alcatraz is a tiny little rock that can only fit a couple hundred people."

Trump says he is directing Bureau of Prisons to reopen Alcatraz to house ‘ruthless and violent offenders’

Samantha Waldenberg, CNN
Sun, May 4, 2025 


A general view of Alcatraz Island on August 16, 2024, near San Francisco, California. - Loren Elliott/Getty Images

President Donald Trump said in a social media post Sunday that he is directing the Bureau of Prisons to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz, the infamous former prison, as a place to “house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.”

“I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders. We will no longer be held hostage to criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job and allow us to remove criminals, who came into our Country illegally,” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social. “The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE.”

The president told reporters as he arrived back to the White House later Sunday that it was “just an idea” he had because of “radicalized judges” who want to ensure migrants being deported have due process.

“I guess because so many of these radicalized judges, they want to have trials for … every single person that’s in our country illegally,” he said, adding, “that would mean millions of trials.”

Trump said Alcatraz has been “a sad symbol, but it’s a symbol of law and order. And you know it’s got quite a history, frankly, so I think we’re going to do that.”

Alcatraz, located on an island off the San Francisco coast, operated as a federal penitentiary for nearly 30 years before closing in 1963 “because the institution was too expensive to continue operating,” according to the Bureau of Prisons’ website.

An estimated $3 million to $5 million “was needed just for restoration and maintenance work to keep the prison open,” not including daily operating costs. “Alcatraz was nearly three times more expensive to operate than any other Federal prison,” according to the website.

It is now operated by the National Park Service as a tourist destination, welcoming approximately 1.2 million visitors a year.

Alcatraz was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. However, such a designation “can be considered for withdrawal either at the request of the owner or on the initiative of the Secretary of the Interior,” according to the National Park Service.

There are certain conditions that make a landmark eligible for losing the designation, such as ceasing “to meet criteria for designation; the qualities for which it was originally designated have been lost or destroyed.”

CNN has reached out to the Department of Interior, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Prisons for comment.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat whose district includes Alcatraz, pushed back on the president’s proposal, calling it “not a serious one.”



Trump Has “No Authority” To Impose 100% Movie Tariffs, Gavin Newsom Says; Studios Scrambling To Find Out What POTUS Wants
Deadline


“Alcatraz closed as a federal penitentiary more than sixty years ago. It is now a very popular national park and major tourist attraction. The President’s proposal is not a serious one,” the congresswoman wrote Sunday on X.

The idea to reopen and rebuild Alcatraz seems to have already been floated by the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. days after his father was inaugurated for a second term when the president signed an executive order to send migrants to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

“Now this is a great idea. Maybe we should also reopen Alcatraz?!?!” Trump Jr. wrote on X.

CNN.com







Donald Trump Announces Alcatraz Will “Rebuild And Open” As Prison
Glenn Garner
Sun, May 4, 2025 




After raising red flags with his administration’s plans to deport and jail U.S. citizens abroad, Donald Trump is reopening one of the country’s most notorious prisons.

On Sunday, the president announced plans to “rebuild and open” Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, which sits on an island off the coast of San Francisco and has been out of commission since 1963, and operated by the National Park Service since 1972.

“REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ! For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering,” he wrote on Truth Social. “When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. No longer will we tolerate these Serial Offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our streets.”

Trump added, “That is why, today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders. We will no longer be held hostage to criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job and allow us to remove criminals, who came into our Country illegally. The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE. We will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons told the Associated Press that they “will comply with all Presidential Orders.”

Open from 1934 to 1963, Alcatraz (aka The Rock) was notorious for its seclusion in the cold, harsh, shark-infested waters of the San Francisco Bay. At least 36 men attempted to escape during that time, nearly all of whom were captured or died. The prison has since been featured in such films as Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Escape from Alcatraz (1979) and The Rock (1996), also serving as a filming location in numerous other projects, as well as a tourist attraction over the decades.

In January, Trump issued an order for the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to reopen a detention facility at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba to hold up to 30,000 immigrants deported from the U.S., whom the POTUS described as “the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.”

The Trump administration has most recently faced scrutiny for sending more than 200 alleged gang members from Venezuela to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador without due process.

“The homegrowns are next, the homegrowns. You’ve got to build about five more places,” said Trump last month of plans to jail U.S. citizens abroad.

THE CLASSIC ALCATRAZ MOVIE NO ONE METIONED 

BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ (1962) FULL MOVIE

Trump announces 100 percent tariff on non-U.S. films, declaring them 'a National Security threat'

ANOTHER PHONEY NATIONAL EMERGENCY

The president declared that "the Movie Industry in America is DYING" in a post to his Truth Social platform on May 4.

Ryan Coleman
Sun, May 4, 2025
Entertainment Weekly

President Donald Trump has announced a 100 percent tariff on all films produced outside of the United States.

"The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death," Trump wrote in a post shared to his Truth Social platform on Sunday. "Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat."


"It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!" he continued. "Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!"

Trump warned that he planned to impose steep tariffs on a variety of goods and products in his inaugural address, declaring in the Jan. 20 speech, "Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens."

In the months since, the president has announced harsh tariffs on everything from an Antarctic island inhabited only by penguins to European wine, beer, and liquor, which he threatened a 200 percent tariff against in March.

The film industry had so far been spared, but the former host of The Apprentice has taken several actions related to the entertainment industry since his election in November.

Karwai Tang/WireImage; David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty; Amy Sussman/WireImageMel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone, and Jon Voight

Shortly before his inauguration in January, Trump announced that he would appoint Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone, and Jon Voight as Special Ambassadors to "a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California."

"They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK — BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!," he wrote on Truth Social.

In April, Trump's Justice Department, under the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi, restored Gibson's gun rights after he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge stemming from a domestic violence incident in 2011. That same month, Trump bragged about a White House visit from actor Vince Vaughn via a post from several official White House social media accounts that pictured Trump and the Wedding Crashers star together with the caption, "White House Crashers."

Trump orders 100% tariff on foreign-made movies to save 'dying' Hollywood

Andrea Shalal and Tim Reid
Sun, May 4, 2025 
REUTERS

FILE PHOTO: The iconic Hollywood Sign is pictured in Los Angeles

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday announced a 100% tariff on movies produced outside the country, saying the American movie industry was dying a "very fast death" due to the incentives that other countries were offering to lure filmmakers.

"This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda," Trump said on Truth Social.

Trump said he was authorizing the relevant government agencies, such as the Department of Commerce, to immediately begin the process of imposing a 100% tariff on all films produced abroad that are then sent into the United States.

He added: "WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!"

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on X: "We're on it."

Neither Lutnick nor Trump provided any details on how the tariffs would be implemented.

It was unclear if the tariffs would apply to movies on streaming services as well as those shown in theaters, or if they would be calculated based on production costs or box office revenue. Hollywood executives were trying to sort out details on Sunday night. The Motion Picture Association, which represents the major studios, had no immediate comment.

In January, Trump appointed Hollywood veterans Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson to bring Hollywood back "bigger, better and stronger than ever before."

Movie and TV production has been exiting Hollywood for years, heading to locations with tax incentives that make filming cheaper.

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NY Post

Governments around the world have increased credits and cash rebates to attract productions and capture a greater share of the $248 billion that Ampere Analysis predicts will be spent globally in 2025 to produce content.

All major media companies, including Walt Disney, Netflix and Universal Pictures, film overseas in countries such as Canada and Britain.

On Monday, leaders in Australia and New Zealand responded to Trump's tariff announcement by saying they would advocate for their local industries. Some Marvel superhero movies have been filmed in Australia, while New Zealand was the backdrop for "The Lord of the Rings" films.

'LOT MORE TO LOSE THAN TO GAIN'

In 2023, about half of the spending by U.S. producers on movie and TV projects with budgets of more than $40 million went outside the U.S., according to research firm ProdPro.

Film and television production has fallen by nearly 40% over the last decade in Hollywood's home city of Los Angeles, according to FilmLA, a non-profit that tracks the region's production.

The January wildfires accelerated concerns that producers may look outside Los Angeles, and that camera operators, costume designers, sound technicians and other behind-the-scenes workers may move out of town rather than try to rebuild in their neighborhoods.

A ProdPro survey of executives found California was the sixth most preferred place to film in the next two years, behind Toronto, Britain, Vancouver, Central Europe and Australia.

Hollywood producers and labor unions have been urging Governor Gavin Newsom to boost the state's tax incentives to better compete with other locations.

Trump's proposed movie tariff follows a series of trade conflicts initiated by his administration, which have roiled markets and led to fears of a U.S. recession.

Former senior Commerce official William Reinsch, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said retaliation against Trump's film tariffs would be devastating.

"The retaliation will kill our industry. We have a lot more to lose than to gain," he said, adding it would be difficult to make a national security or national emergency case for movies.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Jasper Ward and Tim Reid, additional reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Humeyra Pamuk, Diane Craft and Himani Sarkar)

Trump Has “No Authority” To Impose 100% Movie Tariffs, Gavin Newsom Says; Studios Scrambling To Find Out What POTUS Wants

Dominic Patten
Sun, May 4, 2025 

EXCLUSIVE: Typical of Donald Trump, the details of POTUS’ just announced bombshell 100% tariffs on movies made outside America are vague. Yet, what is already very clear, as studios and streamers try to figure out next steps, is that the Governor of California won’t be playing a supporting role.

In fact, as Gavin Newsom pushes for his plan to more than doubling of the state’s film and TV tax incentives to $750 million annually, Trump’s newest tariff missive sets up a showdown between the Governor and the President over who truly wants to save the home of Hollywood.

Contacted by Deadline, Newsom’s office had no comment tonight on Trump’s social media declaration “authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.” Even with Newsom slagged as a “grossly incompetent governor” that let Hollywood be “stolen” later Sunday by Trump on the South Lawn of the White House, the Governor’s team are taking a wait and see approach until more specifics are made available of the president’s desire for “MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”

However, as Trump claimed runaway production “is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat,” Governor Newsom’s office were not shy about advocating the rule of the actual law.

“We believe he has no authority to impose tariffs under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, since tariffs are not listed as a remedy under that law,” Newsom senior advisor for communications Bob Salladay told Deadline this evening of the president’s undefined threat against overseas productions and their incentives. Perhaps setting the stage for another lawsuit from the Golden State against the MAGA administration and its chaos inducing tariffs, the initial reaction from the Governor’s team is sure take more solid form as more becomes known about what Trump really is up to and wants to see done.

It is worth noting the movie tariff firestorm from the low polling Trump came the same night he also exclaimed that he wanted to “rebuild and open” Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary to house “Serial Offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our streets.”

Accordingly, this new tariff policy seems to be connected somewhat to conversations Jon Voight, one of Trump’s trio of special ambassadors” to Hollywood, has been having with guilds and studio/streamer executives in recent weeks. At the same time, industry sources also believe seems it is also a reaction to a China Film Administration unveiled decision in April to “moderately reduce the number of American films imported” as part of a pushback against the 145% tariffs Trump imposed on the PRC.

Regardless, how any tariffs on non-domestic produced film would play out is unknown at this early stage. Would consumers pay the results as a de facto tax with increased ticket prices and streaming subscriptions? Would budgets be the baseline of any evaluation? One theory circulating in DC and LA circles tonight is that any tariffs would be directly on any financial incentives films and possibly shows received from the likes of Canadian provinces and the Hollywood North of Vancouver, the UK, Australia, Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, Germany, Mexico and others.

(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Tonight, studio in-house counsel and top tier outside firms are said to be scrambling to find out what Trump really wants and what it will cost them,” I’m told. “He always wants a deal, a win, we have to hit the right note Monday,” an exec who has been working the phones, texts and DMs said to me. “The hope is this passes and eventually becomes a non-starter.”

With studios and streamers officially pushing any request for comment over to the MPA, the industry lobbying group has said nothing publicly so far. Trump has his first sit-down with Canada’s newly elected Prime Minster Mark Carney set for May 6 at the White House with the foreign movie tariffs near certain to be on the agenda now.

One other certainty is that if Trump’s movie tariffs are real, it will prove another blow to an already greatly weakened industry, especially here in the Southern California.

The home of Hollywood only recently has seen some degree of recovery from the severe downturns of the pandemic and the shift to in-home viewing via streaming, with Netflix, Max, and to some extent Disney, having heavy international inventories. Add to that, even as the big increase in the California Film Commission administered tax credits moves through the state legislature, with 2023’s strikes, devastating wildfires and high costs battering LA, there has been a dramatic double digit drop in production in and around the City of Angels over the past six years. A harsh drop in a now belt tightening economy that has left scores of below-the-line workers unemployed month after month, with increasing numbers leaving the state and/or the industry all together.

As one insider put it Sunday of Trump’s new tariffs threats: “I didn’t have destroy the entire film industry worldwide on my bingo card this year.”

To that, Trump has invoked the 1977 created legislation repeatedly over the last three months in his sprawling and erratic tariffs moves since taking office again Still, the IEEPA is actually quite precise in the need for an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to be identified for a national emergency to be called. Additionally, to Newsom’s office’s point, with all the sanctions power the IEEPA affords a POTUS, the term “tariffs” are not among them. With that, there is little the GOP dominated Congress can or would do to reign Trump in on this abuse of the Act without a veto proof bill shutting down his initiative.

Which, as a fuller sense of what Trump actually means by a 100% tariff on movies produced in other nations takes shape and will it include television, looks like this will be heading for the courts. Before then it will be the stock market that offers the first reaction in the morning – and that could set a very bleak stage

Trump announces plans for 100% tariffs on all foreign movies

Nnamdi Egwuonwu

NBC
Sun, May 4, 2025 

President Donald Trump announced plans Sunday to implement a 100% tariff on movies made in other countries that are imported to the United States, decrying other nations for offering financial incentives meant to “draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States.”

"Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat," Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to foreign films as "messaging and propaganda."

"I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands," he continued.

Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday that "other nations have been stealing the movies, the moviemaking capabilities from the United States," blaming California Gov. Newsom for the decline in film production in Hollywood specifically over the last several years.

A spokesman for Newsom did not respond to a request for comment Sunday night.

"If they're not willing to make a movie inside the United States, we should have a tariff when movies come in," Trump said. "I can tell you one thing, moviemakers love it."

The American film industry has suffered a series of economic blows in recent years, including the Hollywood labor strikes and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Physical production has declined in California amid budget cuts and more generous tax incentives elsewhere. FilmLA, a nonprofit organization that coordinates film permits and supports on-location production in the Los Angeles region, reported lower-than-average soundstage occupancy in recent years. The report notes that competing jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and Ontario, Canada, have more than doubled their stage production capacity over the last years, alongside other U.S. states, such as New York and Georgia.

However, while overall production was down in Los Angeles, the report found that the production of feature films specifically was up 18.8% last year, though the category is still well below its five-year average.

"Unfortunately for all involved, fewer film, television and commercial projects in production makes it harder to fill studio vacancies," the report read.

Trump appointed actors Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone as special ambassadors to Hollywood in January, calling the industry a “great but very troubled place." Their job, Trump said at the time, was to bring business back to Hollywood, which he said "has lost much business over the last four years to foreign countries."

Last month, Voight’s manager, Steven Paul, confirmed to NBC News that he and Voight intended to present Trump with a suite of ideas to ramp up American film and television production. It is unclear whether that meeting has occurred.

The Motion Picture Association, a trade organization that represents Hollywood’s leading studios, declined to comment. In a recent economic report based on U.S. government data, the MPA found that Hollywood has a positive trade balance in all the world’s major markets.

NBC News did not immediately receive responses to requests for comment from Paul; Cinema United, a trade group that represents movie theaters; and several distributors that release foreign-made films, including Netflix.

China announced new tariffs on Hollywood films imported into the country about a month ago, though Reuters reports the move was unlikely to have a significant financial impact on Hollywood given steadily declining box office returns from China.

Trump Plans to Impose 100% Tariff on All Movies Produced Outside of the U.S.

Harrison Richlin
Sun, May 4, 2025 
IndieWire

Utilizing the resources of the Department of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative, Donald Trump has announced his intention to seek a 100% tariff on all films brought to America from another country. This includes films made by American companies like Netflix overseas in areas with better tax incentives, such as the U.K. and South Africa.

Writing on Truth Social, Trump said, “The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated.”

Trump went on to claim that production moving overseas was part of a “concerted effort” by foreign countries to undermine American business, calling it “a national security threat.”

“It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!” Trump wrote. “Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”

Hollywood has been on the President’s hit list from the very start of his second administration. One of his first actions in office was to name Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone, and Jon Voight as “special ambassadors” to help fix an ailing Hollywood. Though not much has been heard from Gibson or Stallone on this effort, Voight has been making the rounds with different union reps and studio executives (as per Deadline). Many were hopeful this might lead to a possible federal tax incentive for production throughout the U.S., but as it’s become Trump’s new favorite toy, it seems a tariff is what we’ll get.

It’s unclear whether this tariff will apply to films alone or also include other media such as television, music videos, or commercials, but if so, it may end up doing more damage than good. The stated goal is to incentivize bringing production back to the States and in particular, Hollywood — but this doesn’t actually reduce the cost of production in the way federal U.S. Tax incentives would. This just makes production outside the U.S. more expensive. The net result may be that the studios would just reduce production across the board.

As far as tax incentives, in October 2024, California Governor Gavin Newsom put forth a proposal to increase the state’s tax program to $750 million, over twice as much as it’s doling out currently. Others have offered further increases, suggesting no cap be placed on this figure. Voting for this initiative will take place this summer.

Stephen Miller’s Former Colleague Reveals Why He Is a ‘Horrible Human Being’
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Trump says he is considering Stephen Miller for national security adviser
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What if the President Tries to Annex Greenland and Canada?

LIBERTARIAN ANTI-IMPERIALISM

Daniel W. Drezner
Sun, May 4, 2025


Photo: ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy

One of the underrated accomplishments of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential run was that he criticized fellow Republicans for their foreign policy mistakes and lived to tell the tale. When Rep. Ron Paul (R–Texas) ran for president in 2008 and 2012, he was booed repeatedly for criticizing the Iraq War and other neoconservative foreign policy positions and he eventually faded from the race.

In 2016, by contrast, Trump repeatedly slammed the George W. Bush administration for the Iraq War, calling it "a big, fat mistake" and declaring that "we should have never been in Iraq." Trump also received some boos but nevertheless won the nomination even as he blasted U.S. foreign policy as too war-prone. By the end of that GOP primary season, even New York Times columnists were famously proclaiming that Trump could be a more dovish president than Hillary Clinton.

When Trump ran for president again in 2024, he articulated similarly dovish themes. He blasted his former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley as a "warmonger"; he advocated talking with authoritarian leaders such as Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un; and he repeatedly declared that only he could avert World War III. His vice presidential nominee, J.D. Vance, maintained that Trump was "the candidate of peace."

But in the first 100 days of Trump's second term—when not roiling the global economy with tariffs—he has talked an awful lot about absorbing more territory regardless of how the occupants of that territory feel about it. In his second inaugural address, the president pledged that the United States would be a country that "expands our territory." Some of Trump's defenders tried to explain away that clause as a reference to space exploration, but that excuse has become less and less plausible.

In just his first two months in office, Trump has repeatedly and insistently declared his interest in annexing Greenland, absorbing Canada, occupying Gaza, reclaiming the Panama Canal, mining rare earths in Ukraine, and unilaterally using force in Mexico. None of this sounds particularly dovish or helpful in averting World War III.

Some of Trump's more batshit suggestions—like sending the U.S. military to occupy Gaza—might be written off as pipe dreams. His repeated emphasis on territorial expansion, however, cannot be dismissed so easily. The president's previous statements and first-term record help explain his obsession with expanding America's borders.

First, Trump has always possessed a mercantilist, zero-sum view of world politics and the global economy. In that mindset, more territory is better than less.

Second, Trump believes that peace among the great powers can be achieved through spheres of influence. This means conceding parts of the globe to Russia and China—while expanding U.S. control over the Western hemisphere.

Third, changing territorial boundaries transgresses all sorts of international norms—and Trump loves transgressing.

Finally, Trump wants to emulate the leaders he admires. Putin and Xi are also into expanding their territorial control.

But the modern world operates differently from how Trump thinks it works. What might have worked in the 18th century is obsolete in the 21st. In trying to manifest his vision board of an expansionist United States, Trump is undermining key strategic pillars that have bolstered the free world for decades. If Trump achieves any of his desired territorial gains, the United States might be larger. But it will also be poorer and radically more insecure.

Trump's Expansionist Targets

Does Trump actually intend to expand U.S. borders? While he's talked a lot about territorial expansion since winning in 2024, it was not a prominent part of his campaign rhetoric. He bobs and weaves so much in his public statements that sometimes it seems the only certainty is that Trump likes uncertainty. Reports that he proposed swapping Puerto Rico for Greenland were dismissed as either absurd or naive. Can his more recent musings also be discounted as a madman gambit?

Trump has always been a real estate guy. He likes to own land. He did give hints about his interest in territorial expansion and resource extraction prior to his second inauguration. As far back as 2011, he talked about the alleged need to "take the oil" from Iraq, arguing that we would be "reimbursing ourselves" for the trillions of dollars spent on the Iraq War. During his first term, Trump's comfort level with redrawing sovereign borders was higher than that of any other postwar president. His administration recognized Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights. To secure Morocco's participation in the Abraham Accords, his administration recognized that country's annexation of Western Sahara. Except for Israel, the United States remains the only country to recognize both annexations.

Trump's second-term rhetoric and actions about territorial expansion have been consistent and persistent enough to rattle treaty allies. Panamanian officials have been on edge since Trump started loudly complaining that China controls the Canal Zone. (China does not control the Canal Zone.) In March he told Congress, "My administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we've already started doing it," causing the president of Panama to issue a public denial. In January there were multiple reports of a tense 45-minute phone conversation between Trump and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, during which Trump issued a variety of coercive threats to pressure Denmark into ceding Greenland to the United States. One European official briefed on the call told the Financial Times, "Before, it was hard to take it seriously. But I do think it is serious, and potentially very dangerous." In his first joint address to Congress, Trump declared of Greenland, "One way or the other, we're going to get it."

The same dynamic has played out with Canada. Almost immediately after Trump won his second term, he talked about Canada becoming the 51st state and derisively referred to then–Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as "Governor." Canadian officials including Trudeau at first nervously laughed off Trump's rhetoric.

That changed after Trump was sworn in and started threatening tariffs, following through on his pledge to use "economic force" to pressure Canada into an Anschluss with the United States. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has repeatedly suggested that the only way for Canada to avoid tariffs is to become the 51st state. According to The New York Times, Trump told Trudeau in February that he did not accept the 1908 treaty demarcating the border between the two countries and wanted to revise it, including how lakes and rivers between the two nations would be governed.

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick explained to the Canadian finance minister that Trump was interested in exiting the raft of agreements that governed the bilateral relationship. By March, during his last week in office, Trudeau told the Canadian press that Trump is threatening tariffs because "what he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that'll make it easier to annex us."

Maybe Trump is bluffing when he threatens to annex portions of Panama, Canada, and Denmark. But the leadership of all three longstanding U.S. allies seem to think that he is serious, causing a dramatic downturn of U.S. standing in those three countries. It also jibes with behind-the-scenes reporting of Trump wanting a painting of James Polk—president during the largest expansion of U.S. territory in American history—hanging in the Oval Office. According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump has told visitors that Polk "got a lot of land."

Why, exactly, is Trump so eager to expand America's territory?

Trump the Mercantilist

Back in January 2016, The Brookings Institution's Thomas Wright authored in Politico one of the earliest and most accurate assessments of how Trump thinks about international relations. Wright concluded, contrary to most foreign policy observers at the time, that Trump "has a remarkably coherent and consistent worldview" with three tenets.

First, Trump is deeply skeptical of the liberal international order that embraced globalization and the network of U.S. alliances. He believes trade deficits are a sign of economic weakness.

Second, he believes U.S. allies have cheated the United States out of billions of dollars by running trade surpluses and not paying enough for their own defense.

Third, Trump's sympathies are with foreign strongmen who he believes are tough and firm and get what they want in world politics. The result, wrote Wright, is "a worldview that makes a great leap backward in history, embracing antiquated notions of power that haven't been prevalent since prior to World War II."

The whole point of international trade is that it can generate win-win outcomes where both sides benefit. Trump embodies the contrary doctrine that predated Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations: mercantilism. Mercantilists believed that prosperity requires trade surpluses—selling more across national borders than you buy—which in turn would allegedly augment the power of the state.

Mercantilists of the preindustrial era insisted states that ran trade surpluses would be able to afford the large standing armies that were the norm in a violent 17th century. Josiah Child, a leading 17th century mercantilist, made this point repeatedly: "Foreign trade produces riches, riches power, power preserves our trade and religion."

Trump's 2017 inaugural declaration that "protection will lead to great prosperity and strength" fits with that antiquated vision. Furthermore, if one believes trade is a zero-sum competition and the world an unsafe place, territorial expansion makes sense. The global distribution of territory is undeniably a zero-sum game; the more one acquires, the less territory is available for any competitor. Mercantilists believe in free trade within one's sovereign territory.

After threatening tariffs on Canada this past March, for example, Trump posted on social media that the "only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State. This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear." Expanding territory creates a larger internal market, which both mercantilists and classical economists agree leads to a more productive national economy. Mercantilists like Trump will always prefer territorial expansion to more international trade, believing expansion is the path to power and plenty.

The geopolitical benefits of territorial expansion are tied into Trump's desire to forge a great-power peace with China and Russia. Trump admires other great powers, and to judge from his rhetoric he views Russia and China as the only other states that truly matter in world politics.

This can be seen most clearly in how Trump has attempted to negotiate a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. The new administration has been very willing and eager to strong-arm Ukraine into a variety of territorial and tactical concessions. In contrast, Trump has been deferential toward Russia. Recall that during the now-infamous Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump asked a reporter, "You want me to say really terrible things about Putin and then say, 'Hi Vladimir, how we doing on the deal?'" Five minutes later, Trump was saying terrible things about Zelenskyy to his face.

Throughout his first term and the first 100 days of his second term, Trump has demonstrated flexibility with respect to how other great powers handle their periphery. While members of his Cabinet protested China's authoritarian crackdowns during his first term, Trump himself signaled to Xi that he would refrain from criticizing Xi's actions in Hong Kong and Xinjiang in the interest of securing a bilateral trade deal.

Despite imposing tariffs on China, there is persistent speculation that second-term Trump is seeking a grand bargain with Beijing, much as he desired during his first term. Trump also suggested during his first term that Crimea was historically part of Russia. In 2025 Trump has reportedly proposed that the United States recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea and urge the United Nations to do the same in return for an end to the war in Ukraine.

How does this connect to Trump's own territorial ambitions? All these statements are signs that Trump believes in great powers divvying up the world's assets, as Monica Duffy Toft, my colleague at Tufts University's Fletcher School, argued recently: "Today's geopolitical landscape particularly resembles the close of World War II, when U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin sought to divide Europe into spheres of influence….If Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump, and Chinese President Xi Jinping were to reach an informal consensus that power matters more than ideological differences, they would be echoing Yalta by determining the sovereignty and future of nearby neighbors."

In this scenario, Trump would be cutting a deal in which Russia and China could expand their own spheres of influence. In return, the United States would have free rein over the Western Hemisphere. This would empower Trump to use America's military and economic power to redraw the map, expanding into Greenland, the Panama Canal Zone, and, oh yes, Canada.

These actions would violate a welter of international treaties to which the United States is a signatory. For Trump, however, such legal impunity would be a bonus rather than a hindrance. His political superpower has always been to violate norms and laws and then emerge unscathed. If redrawing global borders helps to foster some kind of peaceful great power concert, Trump could plausibly argue that his outside-the-box thinking helped to reduce global tensions while expanding America's size.

Putin's forcible acquisition of Crimea in 2014 caused his poll numbers in Russia to skyrocket despite the economic deprivations caused by the ensuing war. Nationalism plays well, and redrawing the map is a world-historical act that burnishes a leader's historical legacy. This lesson has not been lost on Trump. According to a Wall Street Journal report: "Trump remains serious about growing the country during his time in the White House. He views it as a part of his legacy, five people who have spoken to him say." If Trump could succeed in expanding U.S. territory, perhaps current citizens and future historians will look kindly upon him as well.

Perhaps the combined efforts of China, Russia, and the United States can shift norms about territorial borders back to the Age of Empires. But the idea any of this will benefit the United States is nuts.

Annexation Talk Leads to Resistance

In 1917 the United States purchased the U.S. Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million—the most expensive purchase of territory per square mile in American history. It has been more than a century since the United States annexed any territory in the Western Hemisphere. Indeed, the overarching global trend since the end of World War I has been for states to shed territory rather than add it. When the U.S. acquired the Virgin Islands, fewer than 60 sovereign countries existed. More than a century later, the disintegration of empires and subsequent waves of decolonization have pushed that number close to 200.

The fundamental driver for this increase is the secular surge in nationalism. Countries and people that have any history of independence or autonomy usually do not like to relinquish it, regardless of the material consequences. It is therefore not surprising that Trump's rhetoric about buying Greenland and absorbing Canada have not gone over well with the local populations.

In mid-March Greenland held elections—and Qulleq, the most pro-American party of the bunch, failed to garner enough votes for a seat in the parliament. All the major parties in Greenland categorically rejected annexation by the United States. When Vance visited Greenland in late March, his initial plan to speak to supportive locals was scrubbed—because there were no local supporters. One could argue the U.S. military could easily control the island if push came to shove. But unless Trump was prepared to use force against the 56,000 native residents, such an effort would prove extremely messy.

A similar dynamic has played out in Canada. Prior to Trump's chatter about Canada becoming the 51st state, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre was trouncing the ruling Liberal Party in the polls. It looked like the 2025 Canadian elections would be a familiar echo of the 2024 U.S. election. But as Trump kept insisting that Canada join the United States, the vibe shifted. Suddenly Canadians were booing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at sporting events, enlisting in the military at higher rates, and changing their mind about the upcoming election.

Poilievre had categorically rejected the idea of joining the United States but his stylistic similarities to Trump hurt his standing. By late March, the Liberals surged ahead in national polls for the first time in three years ahead of the April 28 election.

Again, the United States likely has the military might to shift the border. Whether Trump is prepared to invest in the necessary coercive apparatus to crack down on restive Canadians is another matter.

Even if Trump doesn't care that residents of potential annexed areas aren't happy with the idea, neither the economic nor the security logic for expanded territorial control makes sense. Trump clearly believes that Russia is a great power, but the only dimension on which that is true is in its possession of nuclear weapons. Even though Russia is far and away the largest country in terms of geographic size, its share of global economic output peaked at 3 percent during this century and has been on the decline for years.

Similarly, why would the United States need to own Greenland? The island is already extremely open to foreign direct investment, so it's not like sovereign control is an economic necessity. The U.S. already has a large military base there, and—prior to the president's annexation threats—Denmark had signaled a willingness to allow an even greater U.S. military presence. Beyond the perceived prestige of expanding U.S. territory, the difference for real U.S. goals between Greenland being an independent republic, a protectorate of Denmark, or a part of the United States is negligible.

Trump administration officials claim they need Greenland to ward off encroachment by Russia and China. But this just highlights another problem with Trump's logic: the hard limits of a sphere-of-influence approach to the world.

Neither Europe nor the Middle East nor the entire continent of Africa have a "natural" hegemon. The reason Russia is interested in Greenland is that Moscow believes the Arctic is part of its sphere of influence; China similarly likes to talk about the Arctic as part of its Polar Silk Road. In those regions one can envision Trump's great powers gamesmanship leading not toward global stability between three regional hegemons, but rather to a new "Great Game" with all of the geopolitical tensions that come with it.

Furthermore, while it is easy to suggest that the United States can trade American hegemony in the Western Hemisphere for Chinese hegemony in the Pacific Rim, quite a few other countries would have a problem with that entente. Longstanding U.S. allies such as Japan and South Korea will resist being viewed as a part of China's sphere of influence; so will newer partners, such as India. Similarly, a lot of Latin American countries will not want to abandon their trading relationship with China. At present, China is South America's top trading partner and the second-largest trading partner for all of Latin America. China has signed trade agreements with Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Peru; 22 countries in the hemisphere are part of the Belt and Road Initiative. One can debate the geopolitical merits of cozying up to China, but a protectionist Trump administration is not going to persuade these countries to abandon the Chinese market willingly.

At any rate, trading the current set of U.S. allies for an expanded United States is a horrible deal. European and Pacific Rim allies are technologically sophisticated economies providing an important source of America's foreign direct investment. The democratic regimes populating these regions have also proven to be extremely stable and durable. Sacrificing them to a sphere-of-influence approach is like trading Luka Dončić for Anthony Davis.

Trump might think expanding America's territory will be the ultimate political win. But annexing territory does not have the same benefits in the 21st century that it did in the 18th. Stockpiling some rare earths might make sense as a security precaution, but equating control of natural resources with power or plenty misreads an awful lot of recent economic history. Based on the reactions to his recent rhetoric, Trump will not be able to rewrite U.S. borders without the use of force. Expending blood and treasure to acquire territory that is already under the control of loyal allies seems like too high a price to pay.

Just before World War I, Norman Angell explained in The Great Illusion that the gains from trade far outweigh the gains of plunder. The horrific costs of the Great War proved a very costly confirmation of Angell's argument. With Trump's lust for expanding America's borders becoming readily apparent, we risk having to relearn this lesson the hard way.

Trump reiterates 51st state threat as Carney prepares for critical White House meeting

CBC
Sun, May 4, 2025 


Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Donald Trump, seen here in separate photos, will meet at the White House on Tuesday. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press - image credit)

U.S. President Donald Trump is doubling down on threats to make Canada the 51st state and says he'll "always talk about that" as Prime Minister Mark Carney prepares for a crucial White House meeting and insists Canadian sovereignty is not up for discussion.

"You don't even realize what a beautiful country it would be. It would be great," Trump told host Kristen Welker during an interview on NBC's Meet The Press which aired Sunday.

"I'll always talk about that. You know why? We subsidize Canada to the tune of $200 billion a year," Trump added, reiterating his false claim over the U.S. trade deficit with Canada.

When asked if he'd consider using military force to annex Canada, Trump said he thinks "we're not gonna ever get to that point" but "something could happen with Greenland" — the autonomous Danish territory which he's also mentioned absorbing.

The U.S. president's renewed threats come as Carney prepares to meet him on Tuesday for a comprehensive set of discussions on tariffs and the broader Canada-U.S. relationship.

On Friday, at his first press conference since becoming prime minister, Carney said he's going to the White House "with the expectation of constructive — difficult, but constructive discussions."

But Carney has long maintained he would only speak with Trump once the U.S. president shows respect for Canada. The prime minister was pressed by reporters on this issue during his press conference.

"It's always important to distinguish want from reality," Carney said in response, adding that Canadians have clearly stated that Canada will never join the U.S.

"There'll be zigs and zags, ups and downs, but as I said in my remarks I will fight for the best deal for Canada and only accept the best deal for Canada."

Trump told Welker that he congratulated Carney for his election win. The U.S. president also noted Carney's minority government will "make things a little bit difficult for him to run. But he nevertheless had a victory and he's a nice man, I'd think."
Carney-Trump meeting 'a good start'

Everett Eissenstat, who served as deputy director of Trump's National Economic Council during his first term, says the upcoming meeting is "certainly a good start" but "it's unlikely that the relationship will be sorted out within a single meeting."

Eissenstat's advice to Carney is pragmatism over emotions. He said in an interview on Rosemary Barton Live there's "an opportunity to open the aperture beyond just the traditional trade discussion that I think could be very, very fruitful."

"The president wants to achieve a different type of relationship," Eissenstat told host Rosemary Barton on Sunday. "It's obvious to me in hearing some of the comments from the now- prime minister that he does as well."

There are a lot of tariffs on the table, Eissenstat said. The U.S. has imposed 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, non-U.S. content of Canadian-made passenger vehicles and goods that aren't compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

There's also 10 per cent tariffs on energy products in CUSMA and potash products not covered by CUSMA. Canada has retaliated with tariffs on more than $60-billion worth of U.S. goods and on vehicles imported from the U.S. that are not CUSMA-compliant.

Eissenstat said getting rid of those tariffs could be contingent on Canada addressing other irritants Trump has raised, like defence spending.

And then there's the 51st state threats. "I don't conceivably see any scenario where that could actually happen, but I do understand how disturbing it is and how emotive that language can be," Eissenstat said.

Anand 'enthusiastic' about Carney's meeting

Innovation Minister and Oakville East MP-elect Anita Anand told Barton that she's "very enthusiastic" about Carney's upcoming meeting. She added Carney can now fulfil his election mandate to ensure "Canada's economic sovereignty is protected."

"My hope and our hope is that this will be the continuation of a productive conversation and a productive relationship between our two countries," Anand said, adding that the White House meeting is the start, not the end of Canada's dialogue with the United States over shared issues.

Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Anita Anand arrives for a cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations and national security on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday, April 11, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

As Canada irons out its relationship with the United States, Carney will need to contend with a minority government that requires cooperation from other parties.

Anand said she hopes there will be more collaboration at the House of Commons and pointed to Canada's COVID-19 response as a sign federal parties can work together to address critical issues.

"There is room for us after this election to come and to say 'let's work together in the best interests of our great country,'" Anand said.

Trump says 'highly unlikely' US uses military force to annex Canada

SOMEONE HAD HIM WATCH 'CANADIAN BACON'

Francesca Chambers, USA TODAY
Sun, May 4, 2025 


WASHINGTON — In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press", President Donald Trump said he still wants to make Canada the 51st U.S. state and does not envision the United States using military force to seize the neighboring country.

During the interview, which aired on May 4, Trump said he's still interested in annexing Canada but does not label it in the same category as Greenland, a Danish territory Trump has repeatedly suggested the U.S. could one day be compelled to acquire.

Asked if he would rule out military force to take Canada, Trump told "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker: "Well, I think we’re not going to ever get to that point. It could happen, something could happen with Greenland. I’ll be honest, we need that for national and international security."

"But I think it’s highly unlikely," Trump added, as Welker chimed in to buttonhole him on Canada. "I don’t see it with Canada. I just don’t see it, I have to be honest with you," he said with a laugh.

Trade tensions with Canada

The relationship between Canada and the United States has been tense since Trump threatened the country with blistering tariffs. At a late November dinner in Florida with former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he upped the ante by suggesting that Canada give up its sovereignty and become part of the United States. Trump proceeded to needle Trudeau, calling him "Governor" of the "Great State of Canada" on social media.

Trudeau, under pressure from his party to resign amid falling polling, said in early January that he would leave his office. Trump followed through with tariffs anyway, which he said were about fentanyl distribution and drug trafficking, and hit Canada and Mexico with a 25% fee on imports.

The tariffs would later spark boycotts in Canada of American goods and helped propel Trudeau's replacement, liberal Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, to victory in an April 28 election. In a fiery speech, Carney declared that the U.S. would never own the nation and told Canadians that Canada must look out for itself.

"As I have been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country," Carney said. "But these are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us. That will never ever happen."

Trump on annexation plan: 'What a beautiful country it would be'

Carney says he will meet with Trump at the White House on May 6. Trump told NBC that Carney is a "nice man" and confirmed he would soon visit.

"He called me, he was very nice, and I congratulated him," Trump said of his call with Carney after the election. "It’s a very close victory. You know, there’s no majority or anything, so that’s going to make things a little bit difficult, I think, for him to run. But he nevertheless had a victory."

Trump indicated he plans to bring up his proposed annexation of Canada during the meeting with Carney.

"If you look at our map, if you look at the geography — I’m a real estate guy at heart. When I look down at that without that artificial line that was drawn with a ruler many years ago — it was just an artificial line, goes straight across, what a beautiful country it would be. It would be great," Trump said.

Underscoring his argument for Canada to volunteer and become a U.S. state, Trump told NBC that the United States doesn't want or need anything the country produces.

"We don’t need anything. We do very little business with Canada," Trump said. "They do all of their business practically with us. They need us. We don’t need them."

Canada is one of the United States' top two trading partners. The United States exported $349.4 billion in goods to Canada in 2024, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. U.S. goods imports from Canada totaled $412.7 billion in the same year.

Trump has argued that the gap between Canada and the U.S. is much larger when defense spending is accounted for. Canada is one of a handful of NATO nations that spends less of its GDP, as a percentage, on military expenditures than the alliance's mutually agreed upon guidelines.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY

CANADIAN TEACHES YANK HAND TO HAND COMBAT

'THE DEVILS BRIGADE' (1968)

Trump says he ‘doesn’t rule out’ using military force to control Greenland

Edward Helmore
Sun, May 4, 2025

THE GUARDIAN

Donald Trump would not rule out using military force to gain control of Greenland, the world’s largest island and an autonomous territory within Denmark, a fellow Nato member with the US.

Since taking office, the US president has repeatedly expressed the idea of US expansion into Greenland, triggering widespread condemnation and unease both on the island itself and in the global diplomatic community. Greenland is seen as strategically important both for defense and as a future source of mineral wealth.

In an interview on NBC’s Meet The Press on Sunday, Trump was asked whether he would rule out using force against the territory.

Related: Danish PM tells US ‘you cannot annex another country’ on visit to Greenland

“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,” Trump said.

The exchange came as part of wide-ranging interview following Trump’s first 100-days in office last week and he was also asked about the idea of using military force against Canada – an idea once unthinkable but now a subject of speculation amid Trump’s repeated assertion he would like to make Canada the US’s 51st state.

“It’s highly unlikely. I don’t see it with Canada. I just don’t see it, I have to be honest with you,” Trump said.

Trump said he had spoke with Canada’s new prime minister, Mark Carney, and confirmed that the pair had not spoken about making his country part of the US.

But he said they could discuss the topic when Carney visits Washington DC “this week or next week”. Carney, along with around 90% of Canadians, oppose the idea of folding Canada into the US. But Trump said he was open to a discussion.

“I’ll always talk about that. You know why? We subsidize Canada to the tune of $200bn a year,” Trump said. “We don’t need their cars. In fact, we don’t want their cars. We don’t need their energy. We don’t even want their energy. We have more than they do. We don’t want their lumber. We have great lumber. All I have to do is free it up from the environmental lunatics.”

Related: Triumph for Carney: what happened in Canada’s election, and what will it mean?

Trump said that if “Canada was part of the US it wouldn’t cost us. It would be great … it would be a cherished state. And, if you look at our map, if you look at the geography – I’m a real estate guy at heart. When I look down at that without that artificial line that was drawn with a ruler many years ago – was just an artificial line, goes straight across. You don’t even realize.”

“What a beautiful country it would be,” he added.

A poll published last month found that 68% of Americans believe Trump is serious about the US trying to take over Greenland, and 53% think Trump is serious when he talks about the US trying to take control of Canada.

But the survey, commissioned by ABC News found that respondents didn’t think either annexation would be a good idea. About 86% said they opposed the US trying to take control of Canada, and 76% opposed trying to take control of Greenland.


Trump renews threat of military force to annex Greenland

Jessie Yeung and Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, CNN
Sun, May 4, 2025 

President Donald Trump speaks to NBC News’ Kristen Welker in an interview that aired on May 4, 2025. - NBC


President Donald Trump has renewed his threat of using military force to annex Greenland, saying in an NBC News interview he wouldn’t rule it out to make the self-governing Danish territory a part of the United States.

It’s the latest in Trump’s many comments about seizing control of the resource-rich island, which he insists the US needs for national security purposes.

“I don’t rule it out,” he told NBC News’ Kristen Welker in an interview that aired on Sunday. “I don’t say I’m going to do it, but I don’t rule out anything.”

“We need Greenland very badly,” Trump said. “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.”

He added that he doubted it would happen – but that the possibility is “certainly” there.

Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in buying the island, or the US taking it by force or economic coercion, even as NATO ally Denmark and Greenland have firmly rejected the idea.

There are a few factors driving that interest; Greenland occupies a unique geopolitical position, sitting between the US and Europe, which could help repel any potential attack from Russia, experts have said. It also lies along a key shipping lane, and is part of the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap, a strategic maritime region.

But experts also suspect Trump is eyeing other aspects of Greenland such as its trove of natural resources, which may become more accessible as climate change melts the territory’s ice. These include oil and gas, and the rare earth metals in high demand for electric cars, wind turbines and military equipment.

Since Trump began voicing plans for his presidency in December, his desire to annex Greenland has raised questions about the island’s future security as the US, Russia and China vie for influence in the Arctic.

But Greenland has pushed back strongly.

“President Trump says that the United States ‘will get Greenland.’ Let me be clear: The United States will not get it. We do not belong to anyone else. We decide our own future,” the island’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in March after Trump again suggested the use of military force.

Greenland’s not the only sovereign territory Trump has his sights on; the president has repeatedly threatened to annex Canada and make it the US’ “51st state,” souring relations between the two longtime allies.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at a news conference about US tariffs in Ottawa on April 3, 2025. - Dave Chan/AFP/Getty Images

Last week, Canada’s Liberal Party swept to victory in federal elections, with Prime Minister Mark Carney riding on a wave of anti-Trump sentiment and using his victory speech to declare Canada would “never” yield to the United States.



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During the NBC interview on Sunday, Trump said it was “highly unlikely” he’d use military force to annex Canada.

“I don’t see it with Canada. I just don’t see it, I have to be honest with you,” he said.

He added that he’d talked on the phone with Carney after his election win, calling the Canadian leader a “very nice man.” Trump had congratulated Carney, but they did not discuss the threat of annexation of Canada, he said.

Carney is set to visit Trump in Washington on Tuesday. When asked whether the topic would come up during that visit, Trump responded: “I’ll always talk about that.”

If Canada was a state, “it would be great,” Trump added. “It would be a cherished state.”