Where's next? Trump eyes new targets after Venezuela

WASHINGTON: An emboldened US President Donald Trump has hinted that he has other countries in his sights after toppling Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, leaving the world asking: where’s next?

Trump took aim at Colombia, Cuba, Greenland, Mexico and Iran in the space of a single half-hour exchange with reporters aboard Air Force One.

Trump, who openly campaigned for last year’s Nobel peace prize and has scorned interventionism, now says he is enforcing Washington’s right to do what it pleases in his backyard.

Greenland

In the days since the Venezuela operation, Trump has doubled down on his desire to annex Greenland from Denmark.

“Trump has given us a long list of potential future conquests — but the most likely target of his administration will be Greenland,” Asli Aydintasbas, fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings institution, told AFP.

Trump insists Washington needs the mineral-rich, semi-autonomous territory for national security reasons, arguing Denmark is unable to protect Greenland from Russia and China.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has responded by warning that any move to take Greenland by force could mean the end of the US-led NATO military alliance itself.

But Washington could instead increase diplomatic pressure on its already nervy European allies, for example by insisting on a referendum in Greenland.

Colombia

Colombia has been the target of Trump’s most hardline threats. The US leader warned leftist President Gustavo Petro to “watch his ass” and said military action “sounds good to me.”

Trump accuses Petro of being in league with drug traffickers — just as he did with Maduro in the run-up to his capture.

Petro, who has traded barbs with Trump for months over the US pressure campaign against neighboring Venezuela, responded Monday he was ready to “take up arms” in the face of Trump’s threats.

But Colombia could pose an altogether different challenge, with many armed groups left over from its civil war. Instead, Trump may be relying on Venezuela to tell other Latin American leaders to bend the knee.

“Basically he is saying ‘I can bully the country into submission,’ and saying that US hegemony must be accepted if they want to maintain their sovereignty,” Aydintasbas said.

Cuba

Trump claimed Sunday that Cuba — an enduring US foe and ally of Venezuela — was “ready to fall.”

The communist-run island a few dozen miles from Florida has long been in the sights of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants. Havana said 32 Cuban bodyguards were killed in the operation to seize Maduro.

But Trump said he believed military action against Cuba would not be necessary, predicting that the sanctions-hit nation could not survive the loss of heavily subsidized Venezuelan oil.

Mexico

Trump on Sunday told Mexico it had to “get their act together,” following months of pressure over drugs and trade on the United States’ southern neighbor.

He said President Claudia Sheinbaum — whom he met in Washington in December at the draw for the 2026 World Cup, to be held jointly in the United States, Canada and Mexico — was a “terrific person.”

But he said he was pushing her to let him send US troops to tackle drug cartels in Mexico, an offer he said she had previously rebuffed.

Sheinbaum pushed back Monday against US claims of dominance over the region, saying the Americas “do not belong” to any power.

Iran

Iran — like Venezuela a major oil producer — faced US strikes against its nuclear program in June and is now under renewed pressure from Trump for clamping down on protests.

Trump warned on Sunday that Tehran would “get hit very hard” if more demonstrators were killed.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham posted a photo of Trump holding a black hat with the logo “Make Iran Great Again” as they traveled on Air Force One.

Aydintasbas, however, warned against Trump getting “too trigger happy.”

“Right now he seems to be enjoying the moment of imperial presidency, she said. “But if things start going south either in Venezuela or the Middle East, we’re going to see President Trump very quickly lose interest in this role.”