A blunder or a threat? Marshall Islands and FSM labeled 'US territories' in Trump's social media post

By Mar-Vic Cagurangan

When U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau arrives in the Pacific this week for a 10-day diplomatic tour, he will have some explaining to do.

Is Donald Trump hinting at taking over the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia or simply ignorant about the United States' relations with the two sovereign nations?

The question surfaced following the president's post on Truth Social, in which he lumped the FSM and the Marshall Islands among U.S. territories, along with Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Washington, D.C. and Wake Island.

At the top of Trump's list of U.S. territories is the Strait of Hormuz, which is labeled "new."

Trump has declared the Strait of Hormuz a "U.S. territory" after announcing that it was "now open" and " very functioning."

Six months into the war with Iran, Trump said the world’s most important oil choke point is under “total control” of the United States.

Along with Palau, the FSM and the Marshall Islands are freely associated with the U.S. under separate Compacts of Free Association, whose provisions were amended in 2023.

The three Pacific nations are considered strategically important to the United States' Indo-Pacific game plan against China.

The FSM is diplomatically allied with Beijing, while Palau and the Marshall Islands recognize Taiwan.

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Under COFA, the U.S. provides financial assistance, access to federal programs, and defense guarantees in exchange for strategic military rights, including the ability to operate armed forces and demand land for bases in these sovereign Pacific island nations.

The three freely associated states are members of the Pacific Islands Forum, which is holding its 55th leadership meeting in Palau this week. Landau is scheduled to join the Forum meeting in Palau before heading to the FSM, the Solomon Islands and Kiribati

The tour is aimed at strengthening Washington's diplomatic relations with the island region, which has been pulled into geopolitical rivalry between the U.S. and China.

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