Regarding Panama:
“Mr Trump has shown that threatening Panama’s economy and national identity can yield major concessions from its government. Panama has not just pushed through the sale of the canal ports since Mr Trump took office. It has supported his efforts to deport migrants who entered the United States illegally. It has accelerated plans to invest in infrastructure to solve water-supply issues on the canal which have irked American officials. So far, Panama has received nothing in return, not even a cooling of Mr Trump’s rhetoric”.
From the Economist article “Panama’s Giveaway Game” (can’t post a link, I’m reading in the app).
But basically, Panama gave Trump everything he demanded, and he’s still threatening to invade. We could imagine a similar situation here, where lithium reserves, Vaca Muerta, maybe a need to set up deep space tracking stations, or whatever, occupy the orange haired shakedown artist’s 10 second attention span. Sucking up to him is a mug’s game (and we have the ideal mug).