U.S. President Donald J. Trump (R) meets with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (L) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 20, 2019. File Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo/UPI |
License PhotoJan. 7 (UPI) — President-elect Donald Trump threatened the sovereignty of Panama, Denmark and Canada during a wide-ranging and often rambling press conference on Tuesday, prompting staunch opposition from the three U.S. allies.
The former and incoming American president spoke for more than an hour from his Florida Mar-a-Lago golf club resort in Palm Beach on Tuesday, a day after Congress certified his November election victory. During the press conference, he reiterated threats for the United States to reclaim Panama’s famed canal, take control of Denmark’s Greenland and annex Canada.
“We need them for economic security,” he said of the Panama Canal and Greenland. Concerning Canada, he said it would “be much better for national security” if it were the 51st state, while claiming that the United States’ northern neighbor would fail without its support.
“Don’t forget, we basically protect Canada,” he said.
Asked to explain plans to bring the Panama Canal and Greenland under U.S. control and if he would rule out the use of military force, Trump said, “I’m not going to commit to that. It might be that you’ll have to do something.”
“The Panama Canal is vital to our country,” he said, while falsely stating it was under the control of China.
On Greenland, he said Denmark should “give it up” to the United States for not only national but world security.
Concerning Canada, he said he’d use “economic force” to bring it under U.S. control.
“They should be a state,” he said.
The comments were met with swift rejection.
Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha of Panama told reporters on Tuesday that “sovereignty of our canal is non-negotiable.”
Prime Minister Múte Egede of Greenland said on Facebook, “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.”
The outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said on X: “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.”
Trump offered few concrete actions to be taken by his government during the press conference, though he vowed to rechristen the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and to swiftly revoke the prohibition on drilling off the East Coast that President Joe Biden had announced a day prior.
“It’ll be done immediately,” he said, “and we will drill, baby, drill. And we’re going to be drilling in a lot of other locations and the energy costs are going to come way down.”
Having run for election on a populist, America First agenda, Trump frequently speaks out against alleged relationship inequalities with ally nations he feels are taking advantage of the United States, and the comments on Tuesday reflect a drastic departure from diplomatic norms.
