President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would not rule out the use of military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, as he declared U.S. control of both to be vital to American national security.
Speaking to reporters less than two weeks before he takes office on Jan. 20 and as a delegation of aides and advisers that includes Donald Trump Jr. is in Greenland, Trump left open the use of the American military to secure both territories. Trump’s intention marks a rejection of decades of U.S. policy that has prioritized self-determination over territorial expansion.
“I’m not going to commit to that,” Trump said, when asked if he would rule out the use of the military. “It might be that you’ll have to do something. The Panama Canal is vital to our country.” He added, “We need Greenland for national security purposes.” Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, a longtime U.S. ally and a founding member of NATO.
Trump, a Republican, has also floated having Canada join the United States, but he said he would not use military force to do that, saying he would rely on “economic force.”
Promising a “Golden age of America,” Trump also said he would move to try to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” saying that has a “beautiful ring to it.”
Trump also used his press conference to complain that President Joe Biden was undermining his transition to power a day after the incumbent moved to ban offshore energy drilling in most federal waters.
Biden, whose term expires in two weeks, used his authority under the federal Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to protect offshore areas along the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea from future oil and natural gas leasing. All told, about 625 million acres of federal waters were withdrawn from energy exploration by Biden in a move that may require an act of Congress to undo.
“I’m going to put it back on day one,” Trump told reporters. He pledged to take it to the courts “if we need to.”
Trump said Biden’s effort — part of a series of final actions in office by the Democrat’s administration — was undermining his plans for once he’s in office.
“You know, they told me that, we’re going to do everything possible to make this transition to the new administration very smooth,” Trump said. “It’s not smooth.”
But Biden’s team has extended access and courtesies to the Trump team that the Republican former president initially denied Biden after his 2020 election victory. Trump incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles told Axios in an interview published Monday that Biden chief of staff Jeff Zients had been “has been very helpful.”
In extended remarks, Trump also railed against the work of special counsel Jack Smith, who oversaw now-dropped prosecutions over his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol and possession of of classified documents after he left office in 2021. The Justice Department is expected to soon release a report from Smith summarizing his investigation after the criminal cases were forced to an end by Trump’s victory in November.
Concluding his press conference, Trump again mentioned the hostages in Gaza: “We wanna get back those hostages … If this deal’s not done with the people representing our nation by the time I get to office, all hell is going to break out. Thank you very much.”
(YWN/AP)
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21 Responses
Attack Greenland, means ending NATO, means turning Europe over to de facto control of the Chinese-Russian Axis (and note that American troops have been stationed in Greenland for 80 years and we already have effective control over its defenses).
Attack Panama would alienate all of Latin America and push them towards allying with China, which is the exact opposite of what is in America’s interests. Already we have gotten the Panamanian to invest massive sums in upgrading the canal.
If Canada would be an American state (and more likely, states 51-62), it would entrench the Democratic party in the United States, not to mention make French a co-official language and create a majority for a single-payer socialized health care system.
One wonders if Musk is sharing his drug supply with Trump?
Sadly we are stuck with this retard for the next four years. Hashem Yirachem.
lebensraum für Amerika! Heil Drumpf! Heil Drumpf! Heil Drumpf!
Welcome to the club of despotic regimes. Russia threatens Ukraine. China threatens Taiwan. America threatens Panama, Canada, and Greenland. Welcome to the new Trump world order.
Why should Canada which is larger than the whole United States be a state? Attack Greenland and Panama? Gulf of America? Interesting times
Looks like he has a GOOD teacher, named Putin. Putin invaded Ukraine, so now Trump will invade Panama and Greenland.
Like as if the United States never invaded other countries
crazy,
We are? You’re really going to spew your retarded insanity for the next four years? Hashem Yirachem; maybe do something with your sorry life instead!
Jj: The last time the United States invaded a foreign country for the purpose of getting territory was the Mexican War (and arguably that was to protect the Texans) or the War of 1812.
We invaded the Southern States to end slavery. We attacked Spain to free Cuba (Puerto Rico and the Philippines were after thoughts). We invaded Europe in 1917 and again during World War II to support democracies against tyrants (and again, territorial gain were afterthoughts).
There is basically no precedent for the United States to invade a foreign country for the purpose of “empire building”, and I suggest that Trump is trolling without realizing the consequences (note the US needs to control Greenland’s defenses, which we already do and have been doing for 80 years, and we need Panama to upgrade the canal which probably goes beyond their ability to do so).
Unless you are a “Democratic Socialist” the United States needs Canada like a hole in the head. We did consider invading it 80 years ago, but that was out of fear that after the British surrender the Germans would take over Canada (as it was, the British “Plan B” was to move the King, Government and Royal Navy to Canada and carry on the war from there).
Minor Corrections:
Canada should not be one state, each province could join as a separate state.
Greenland wants to be independent, so it will be enough to have a strong treaty like with Taiwan.
Panamanians will surely vote to join US. Then, China will not have to pay tariff, just the (higher) canal fees.
If Canada merges with the USA, the Canadians will get a dollar worth $1.50 Canadian. Imagine, an instant 50% salary raise!!
To the nay sayers, I rephrase the Talmud, if a thief steals your clay pot and replaces it with a gold pot, wouldn’t you want such a thief to steal all your pots on such terms?! (In answer to the complaint that Hashem stole from Adam his rib – same answer to the complaint that Trump is stealing Canada, Greenland, Panama…)
It’s better then a government shutdown, but the Panama canal is on their property and it’s like it says in the mishnah ” they put the money on a deer horn” all dictators want to live exclusively from the country land this is how they dictate, he wants to sanction all the world, we don’t need nobody they need use, if he gives a dollar to anybody in Greenland Denmark will invite Iran not to mention China Russia, and now we gotta throw all the migrants back to Mexico this old man is achashvierosh
Anyone who voted for him voted for a degenerate, adulterous, dangerous, lunatic.
Even if Canada wanted to join the US, do Americans really want to open their borders to the flood of terrorists and terrorism supporters that Canada has let into their country in the last decade?
Trump is looking at a Mercator projector map and thinks that countries in the North are bigger than they are. These countries do not want to be part of America. Threatening to conquer them for no reason is evil.
crazy and others, if you actually think trump is serious, i now understand why you wouldn’t vote for him
Ard – words have consequences. Plain and simple. Trump’s words strain alliances and ruin relationships. If his words are just to be ignored then we can assume the threats of “hell to pay” issues to Hamas will be ignored as well.
Rebetzin – The only pot that America has to offer is our crackpot President elect.
Trump is squandering his political capital on “naarishkeit”.
His advisors have now removed all copies of the board game Risk!