President Donald Trump‘s eye-catching foreign policy at the start of his second term is more than just a series of fanciful, off-the-cuff suggestions and is rather an attempt to strong-arm unwilling leaders to the negotiating table, insiders say.

In his first term, Trump pursued a quasi-isolationist foreign policy, yet during the 2024 campaign cycle, he publicly began suggesting expansions to U.S. territory. Between November and the inauguration, Trump openly discussed taking back the Panama Canal, purchasing Greenland from Denmark, and annexing Canada as the 51st state in the union. He has also expressed interest in invading Mexico to take on drug cartels directly.