President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday repeatedly refused to rule out using the U.S. military to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal.
Trump made the remarks during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Florida when asked by a reporter if he could “assure the world” that he would not “use military or economic coercion” to acquire the two areas.
“No,” Trump said. “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.”
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The reporter then asked specifically only about whether Trump would commit to not using the military.
“I’m not going to commit to that,” Trump fired back. “No, it might be that you’ll have to do something.”
“Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country. It’s being operated by China. China!” he continued. “And we gave the Panama Canal to Panama, we didn’t give it to China. And they’ve abused it. They’ve abused that gift. It should have never been made. Giving the Panama Canal is why Jimmy Carter lost the election, in my opinion, more so maybe than the hostages” in Iran.
WATCH:
🚨 BREAKING: Trump says that he may use economic leverage or the U.S. military to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland. pic.twitter.com/q5dUMD0bR1
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 7, 2025
