Donald Trump has said he does not rule out using military force or economic coercion in his aims to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal.
The US President-elect also said he would change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and vowed to reverse a ban on offshore drilling announced by President Joe Biden yesterday.
The extraordinary comments came during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, one day after Congress formally certified his election victory.
Asked directly whether if he could assure the world that he would not seek to use military or economic coercion in trying to get control of Greenland or the Panama Canal, Trump responded: “I can’t assure you – you’re talking about Panama and Greenland. No, I can’t assure you on either of those two. But I can say this, we need them for economic security.”
Trump has recently suggested that the United States should own or control Greenland, a territory ruled by Denmark, but this is the first time he has suggested using the military to do so.
Greenland’s Prime Minister, Mute Egede, responded to the comments last month, saying: “Greenland is ours”, adding: “We are not for sale and will never be for sale.”
Trump’s willingness to use the military to take control of Greenland and the Canal comes despite his claim that he wants to avoid wars once he becomes President for the second time. After winning the presidential election in November, he claimed: “I’m not going to start a war. I’m going to stop wars.”
Donald Trump Jr arrives in Nuuk, Greenland on Tuesday (Photo: Emil Stach/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)His eldest son, Donald Jr, is currently visiting Greenland, apparently in a private capacity.
Trump has recently spoken about taking control of the Panama Canal because of the high fees that Panama charges to ships sailing to America.
The Canal “was built for our military”, he said. “I’m not going to commit to that now. It might be that you’ll have to do something
“Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country.” However, it is being “operated by China”, he added.
Asked later whether he would also use the military against Canada, which he has also floated the US acquiring, Trump replied: “No, economic force.”
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Read MoreHowever, he repeated previous statements that Canada should be the 51st US state.
He’s also again mocked the outgoing Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, by calling him “governor”.
“They should be a state, that’s what I told Trudeau when he came down,” he said.
He added that the US and Canada united would amount to an “economic force” that would “really be something”.
“We’re spending billions to protect Canada,” he said. “Why are we spending billions?”
Another country in Trump’s sights is Mexico, which he has accused of doing too little to stop migration into the US at its southern border.
During the press conference, Trump said he wanted to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and repeated his promise to impose significant tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
“It covers a lot of territory,” he said of the Gulf. “‘The Gulf of America. What a beautiful name.”
Typically, the US Board of Geographic Names sets geographic names, though presidents have also renamed geographic features via executive action.
Trump will be inaugurated as president on 20 January.
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