President-elect Donald Trump refused to rule out using military or economic action for the United States to gain control of the Panama Canal and Greenland. Afterwards, the Panamanian government assured that the sovereignty of the canal is not negotiable, while Denmark regretted the comments.
US President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday did not rule out using military or economic coercion to resolve his concerns over the Panama Canal and Greenland.
At a press conference at his private club in Florida, where he was asked if he could assure the world that he would not resort to military or economic coercion to try to take control of those areas, Trump responded: “I can't assure you.” , he's talking about Panama and Greenland.”
“No, I can't tell you for sure on either of those two, but I can say this, we need them for economic security,” he said.
After this, the Foreign Minister of Panama, Javier Martínez-Acha, assured that the sovereignty of the canal is not negotiable and that the only hands that manage the interoceanic passage are Panamanian hands.
“The sovereignty of the canal is not negotiable and is part of our history of struggle and an irreversible conquest,” said the official at a public event. “The only hands that control the canal are Panamanian and that will continue to be the case,” he added.
At the end of last year, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino had already rejected the idea of returning the canal to the United States, which owned it before 1999.
For its part, Denmark said Greenland, a self-governing part of its kingdom, is not for sale.
“I don't think it's a good way forward to fight each other with financial means when we are close allies and partners,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in response to Trump's comments.
Trump complains about Biden
Separately, Trump complained that President Joe Biden was undermining his transition to power a day after the outgoing president decided to ban offshore energy drilling in most federal waters.
Biden, whose term expires in two weeks, used his authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to protect offshore areas along the east and west coasts, the eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico and parts of the Sea of Bering in Alaska against future oil and natural gas leases.
In total, approximately 252 million hectares of federal waters were excluded from energy exploration in a move that can likely only be overturned by congressional action.
“I'm going to reverse it on the first day,” Trump told reporters at his private club in Florida, pledging to take the matter to court “if necessary.”
Trump declared that Biden's effort — part of a series of final actions by the Democrat's administration — was undermining his plans for when he is in office.
“You know, they told me they were going to do everything they could to make this transition smooth,” Trump said. “It's not smooth.”
Biden's team has extended access and courtesies to Trump's team that the former Republican president initially denied to Biden when he won the election in 2020.
Trump's incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, told Axios in an interview published Monday that Biden's chief of staff, Jeff Zients, has been “very collaborative.”
In other comments, Trump also lashed out at the work of special counsel Jack Smith, who oversaw now-dismissed indictments over his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol and possession of classified documents after leaving office in 2021.
The Justice Department is expected to soon release a report from Smith summarizing its investigation after criminal cases had to be closed by Trump's victory in November.
Rename the Gulf of Mexico
Trump also said he will try to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of the United States” because that “sounds really nice.”
His promise to rename the Gulf echoed an earlier one to revert the name of Denali, North America's highest peak, to Mount McKinley. Former President Barack Obama had renamed the Alaskan mountain in deference to the Native Americans.
Typically, they are set by the United States Board on Geographic Names, but presidents have also renamed features through executive orders.
The press conference, Trump's second since winning the Nov. 5 election, took place a day after Congress formally certified his victory.
The Jan. 6 certification, a basic and largely ceremonial step required by the U.S. Constitution, was disrupted in 2021 when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in a failed attempt to prevent Trump's victory. President Joe Biden on Trump.
Monday's ceremony was held under tight security, but passed without incident.
(With information from AP and Reuters)