National experts believe that there is no danger of US President Donald Trump wanting to annex the Azores, as he has already suggested about Greenland and the Panama Canal.
“The alliance between the United States and Portugal in the Azores is historic and dates back to before the creation of NATO in 1949. It is one of the oldest foreign policy relationships. Portugal was the first neutral nation in 1791, while maintaining an alliance with the United Kingdom. The US consulate in Ponta Delgada, for example, has symbolic value as it is the oldest in continuous operation in the world,” said Adérito Vicente, assistant professor of international relations at the Faculty of Law of the Lusíada University of Porto and researcher at the New University of Lisbon, to the digital newspaper ”Notícias ao Minuto.”
He also mentioned the “absence of barriers to strategic trade routes.”
“The Azores do not impose specific trade restrictions on US ships, as confirmed by the history of bilateral agreements such as the Lajes Technical and Labor Agreement and the 1951 military agreement. Its geostrategic importance lies mainly in military logistics, including support for naval and air operations, and not in the control of transatlantic trade routes, which are free,” he stressed.

Vítor Gabriel Oliveira, secretary-general of SEDES Europe, focuses on the issue of the Lajes Base, but considers annexation a ”theoretical hypothesis.”
“The US has about 750 military bases outside the American continent. They need allies and support outside the country to be the great power they are. In addition to weapons, they need something else: a location to station those weapons. If they were to drift towards wanting to remove the 750 military bases outside their territory, the world would be different from the one we know today,” he reflected.
“In the Azores, it is extremely important to have coordination at the highest level with the Portuguese authorities, such as the Navy, which guarantees the United States greater capacity for action. It is not just a matter of having a base there to land aircraft and store military equipment; they need allies to project their strength,” he added.
For Vítor Gabriel Oliveira, one of Portugal’s trump cards is its relations with various countries, but the link with the US should be deepened. “We can reach from China to the United States, from the Middle East to Africa or Latin America. Portugal must maintain this role and strengthen it in the CPLP (Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries), but it must also strengthen its operational capacity for the Atlantic vision. It has been more than 20 years since a Portuguese government leader, a prime minister, has officially visited the US presidency. We had a president, but not a prime minister. It is important to send a signal that the United States remains our main partner and to maintain that role and keep the door open, engaging in dialogue, even if that is difficult with Donald Trump,” he told Notícias ao Minuto.

There is also the element of China’s interest in the Azores, which is not too significant in the eyes of the Americans for now.
The digital newspaper recalls that the region has received Chinese investment in logistics, research, and agriculture centers.
“An illustrative case is the project for the port of Praia da Vitória, on Terceira Island, where there was local interest in accepting Chinese investment. However, due to US influence, the project did not go ahead. Washington is concerned about the strategic implications of Chinese investment in infrastructure in the Azores. There are fears that these investments, although presented as commercial, may have military potential, similar to Chinese activities in Gwadar, Pakistan,” said Adérito Vicente.
He recalled that Santa Maria already has a project for a microsatellite launch platform in which the Chinese have “invested 50 million euros.”
“The project represents a significant scientific and technological collaboration between China and Portugal in the space sector, taking advantage of the geostrategic location of the Azores,” the researcher stressed.


It is in the Panama Canal that experts place the greatest American interest. “Donald Trump wants to have much more control. We know that there are investment banks negotiating the purchase, by the United States, of the company that manages the Panama Canal. China has shown considerable discomfort with this pressure, having become a player that has grown over the last two decades, coming very close to the world’s top,” stressed Vítor Gabriel Oliveira.
At the end of last month, the Minister of National Defense, Nuno Melo, said that in the current “dangerous and unpredictable” geopolitical context, the Azores “take on fundamental importance.”
“We are talking about a western border, to which NATO is very attentive, and we also have to invest, strengthening human resources, assets, and equipment,” he said.

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.