Having campaigned on a policy of ending wars, making peace, putting America first and disentangling the country from the world, President-elect Donald Trump this week decided to revive 19th-century imperialism. In a single news conference, he pondered making Canada a state and acquiring Greenland and the Panama Canal by economic coercion — and declined to rule out using military force in the latter two cases. Republican leaders, whom Trump has only recently trained to denounce their party’s old foreign policy of expansionism and internationalism, quickly pivoted again and adopted the new party line, and are now showering praise on Trump’s grand vision and big thinking. Where will all this go?

Some say we are simply back to the “madman theory” of foreign policy, which posits that it’s good for the president to sometimes appear unpredictable, even irrational, because it throws adversaries off guard. It’s worth recalling that Trump tried this gambit in his first term, most obviously with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. He began by threatening him with nuclear war (“fire and fury … the likes of which this world has never seen before”) and then abruptly switched to romancing him with love letters. None of it worked. North Korea continued to build its nuclear arsenal, conduct missile tests (after a brief pause) and threaten its southern neighbor.

The talk about making Canada a state appears to be mostly trolling, targeted at that country’s liberal prime minister, whom Trump dislikes. But it has forced even Trumpian politicians such as Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, and the rising Conservative Party leader, Pierre Poilievre, to firmly push back.

During the 2016 campaign, Trump’s nasty rhetoric about Mexico helped the most anti-American candidate in that country’s next election, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, climb dramatically in the polls. Trump might similarly encourage greater anti-Americanism in Canada this time around.

Trump’s focus on Panama and Greenland has some basis. The Panama Canal is one of the world’s great maritime choke points. But the Panamanian authorities have managed it responsibly, professionally and in no way treated the United States badly. Nor is there any direct evidence of Chinese military influence on the canal or in the Canal Zone, as Trump claims.

China is growing its economic ties to Central and Latin America, but the easiest way to help Beijing expand them even further would be for Washington to make a ham-fisted effort to colonize the canal. That would lead to nationalist attacks on the United States in Panama and revive fears of American neo-imperialism throughout the continent.

Greenland is turning into a pivotal place, largely because of climate change (which, ironically, Trump has called a “hoax”). The melting of the polar ice caps will open up new oceanic shipping routes between Europe and North America, and Russia and China will actively try to gain influence in these new seaways. It is — and should be — American policy to thwart both nations’ efforts to expand their economic and military footprint here. But the United States doesn’t need to acquire Greenland to do this. It already has all the access to the island it wants. Washington had a string of bases on the island during World War II and the Cold War. One remains and is now operated by the Space Force.

In fact, Denmark has actively assisted in America’s newfound interest in Greenland. A few years ago, Greenland (which is governed semi-autonomously) nearly made a deal to accept Chinese financing for a set of new airports. The Pentagon asked Denmark to prevail on the Greenlanders to cancel the deal. The Danish government succeeded, replacing much of the Chinese financing with its own. Working with Denmark made America’s efforts more effective. Similarly, American firms (including one financed by the Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund backed by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos (who owns The Washington Post) and Mark Zuckerberg) are actively exploring whether Greenland could be mined for some of its rich mineral supplies. This would be quite similar if the island were technically American.

America has been so influential around the world because it has been able to persuade others that it seeks to act not just in its narrow self-interest but for broader interests. That’s why it was able to get 87 countries to immediately condemn Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. That is why so many of China’s neighbors have allied themselves with the United States.

In the news conference, Trump proposed getting rid of the “artificially drawn line” between Canada and the United States. Of course, that is precisely what President Vladimir Putin says about the line between Russia and Ukraine. Or President Xi Jinping about the division between China and Taiwan. This is a world that makes Russia and China great again.