Strutting Trump Hints He’d Use Military to Seize Greenland
President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday declined to rule out using military force to seize Greenland from Denmark and retake the Panama Canal.
“I can’t assure you—you’re talking about Panama and Greenland?" Trump said during an hourlong news conference at Mar-a-Lago in response to a question from The New York Times' David Sanger.
Sanger asked Trump if he could “assure the world” that the president-elect would not use “military or economic coercion” to gain control of both areas.
“No, I can’t assure you on either of those two,” Trump said. “But I can say this, we need them for economic security.”
NYT’s David Sanger: “[L]et's start if we could with your references to Greenland and Panama canal, so forth. Can you assure the world that as you try to get control of these areas, you are not going to use military or economic coercion?”
President-Elect Trump: “No.”
Sanger:… pic.twitter.com/ftsxpOAj6r— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 7, 2025
Trump spoke about his expansionist agenda after dispatching his son, Donald Trump Jr., to the Danish Arctic island on Tuesday.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, meanwhile, made it clear: Greenland is not for sale, despite Trump insisting that the autonomous Danish territory is all in for MAGA.
“Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation,” he wrote Monday. “We will protect it, and cherish it, from a very vicious outside World. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”
At his Tuesday news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump also touched on slow-dripping faucets, itchy electric heaters and politically motivated prosecutors—all of which he blamed on President Joe Biden. He also promised to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
But the president-elect said he would not use military force to try to take over Canada.
Instead, Trump said he would use “economic force” to exert control over the Great White North.
“Because Canada and the United States, that would really be something. You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like, and it would also be much better for national security,” Trump said.
A day earlier, he wasted no time taunting Canadians after their prime minister, Justin Trudeau, resigned.
“Many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The United States can no longer suffer the massive Trade Deficits and Subsidies that Canada needs to stay afloat. Justin Trudeau knew this, and resigned.”
