US president-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday reiterated his expansionist agenda, citing China as a security threat and refusing to rule out military action or economic pressure to reclaim the Panama Canal and acquire Greenland from Denmark.
“Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country, it’s being operated by China, China. And we gave the Panama Canal to Panama, we didn’t give it to China,” he said in remarks at a press conference at his private residence Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
When asked whether he would avoid using military or economic coercion in Panama and Greenland, Trump replied: “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. The Panama Canal was built for our military,” he added.
Trump’s extraordinary remarks came a day after the US Congress officially certified his presidential election victory. The press conference was the second he has held since defeating Vice-President Kamala Harris in November.
Ahead of his January 20 inauguration, Trump has repeatedly called for restoring US ownership of the Panama Canal, which was built by the US and handed to Panama in 1999 under a treaty negotiated by former US president Jimmy Carter.