Trump Intensifies Threats to Seize Control of Greenland and Panama Canal

President-elect Donald Trump shows no signs of backing down from his goal of having the U.S. acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal, insisting both are vital to American national security.

That didn't mean he would rule out either military or economic force to seize the autonomous Danish territory or the Canal. "No, I can't guarantee," he said. The president would say, "But I will say this; we need them for economic security," noted reporters on a well-furnished podium press conference held at his estate, Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Denmark and even Panama rejected any proposals relinquishing their territory. Trump also vowed to employ "economic force" while answering a query on trying to annex Canada, as he tagged the border shared by the two countries with the phrase "artificially drawn line."

The imaginary longest border between two nations is the two countries, which came out of treaties entered into way back in the late 1700s - around the founding of the United States.

The president-elect also mentioned that the U.S. spends billions protecting Canada and complained about Canada's imports, which included cars, lumber, and dairy imports.
"They should be a state," he told reporters.

Trudeau, the outgoing Prime Minister of Canada, dismissed such an argument, saying that "not a snowball's chance in hell" do the two countries merge together.

The fast-moving press conference-scheduled, originally meant to launch Dubai-based developer Damac Properties' announcement of a $20 billion investment to build data centers in the U.S.-turned into a rant by the president-elect against environmental regulations, the U.S. election system, ongoing legal issues against him, and President Joe Biden.

Among other things, he pitched renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America while reiterating his opposition to wind power on the grounds that "driving the whales crazy" would be done by installing wind turbines.

His remarks came at the same time as his son, Donald Trump Jr., visited Greenland.

Before making it to the capital, Nuuk, Trump Jr. mentioned that he was on a "personal day trip" to engage in conversation with the locals, with absolutely no scheduled meetings with government officials.

When asked about Trump Jr.'s visit to Greenland, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Danish TV that "Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders" and that the local population alone should decide their future.

She confirmed that "Greenland is not for sale," but highlighted the importance of Denmark's close cooperation with the U.S., a NATO ally.

Strategically located on the shortest route between North America and Europe, Greenland is home to a significant American space facility. It also contains some of the largest deposits of rare earth minerals, essential for producing batteries and high-tech devices.

Trump suggested that the island plays a crucial role in military efforts to monitor Chinese and Russian ships, which he claimed are "spread all over the place." Since winning re-election, Trump has consistently revisited the idea of U.S. territorial expansion, including the notion of reclaiming the Panama Canal.

During the news conference, Trump described the canal as "vital to our country" and claimed that "it's being operated by China."

He previously accused Panama of overcharging U.S. ships to use the waterway, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino dismissed Trump's allegations, stating that there is "absolutely no Chinese interference" in the canal. While a Hong Kong-based company, CK Hutchison Holdings, manages two ports at the canal's entrances, it has no control over the waterway itself.

The canal, built in the early 1900s, remained under U.S. control until 1977, when treaties negotiated by President Jimmy Carter gradually transferred the land back to Panama.
"Giving the Panama Canal to Panama was a very big mistake," Trump said. "Look, [Carter] was a good man... But that was a big mistake."

It remains unclear how serious the president-elect is about expanding U.S. territory, especially when it comes to Canada, a country of 41 million people and the second-largest nation by area in the world.

During the same press conference, Trump also repeated several falsehoods and bizarre conspiracy theories, including suggesting that Hezbollah, the Islamist militant group, was involved in the U.S. Capitol riot of 2021.