Trump refuses to rule out use of military force to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal

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Trump refuses to rule out use of military force to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal

2025-01-08 07:57 Last Updated At：08:00

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would not rule out the use of military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, as he declared U.S. control of both to be vital to American national security.

Speaking to reporters less than two weeks before he takes office on Jan. 20 and as a delegation of aides and advisers that includes Donald Trump Jr. is in Greenland, Trump left open the use of the American military to secure both territories. Trump's intention marks a rejection of decades of U.S. policy that has prioritized self-determination over territorial expansion.

“I’m not going to commit to that," Trump said, when asked if he would rule out the use of the military. "It might be that you’ll have to do something. The Panama Canal is vital to our country.” He added, “We need Greenland for national security purposes."

Greenland, home to a large U.S. military base, is an autonomous territory of Denmark, a longtime U.S. ally and a founding member of NATO. Trump cast doubts on the legitimacy of Denmark's claim to Greenland.

The Panama Canal has been solely controlled by the eponymous country for more than 25 years. The U.S. returned the Panama Canal Zone to the country in 1979 and ended its joint partnership in controlling the strategic waterway in 1999.

Addressing Trump's comments in an interview with Danish broadcaster TV2, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called the United States Denmark’s “most important and closest ally,” and that she did not believe that the United States will use military or economic power to secure control over Greenland.

Frederiksen repeated that she welcomed the United States taking a greater interest in the Arctic region, but that it would “have to be done in a way that is respectful of the Greenlandic people,” she said.

“At the same time, it must be done in a way that allows Denmark and the United States to still cooperate in, among other things, NATO,” Frederiksen said.

Earlier, Trump posted a video of his private plane landing in Nuuk, the Arctic territory’s capital, in a landscape of snow-capped peaks and fjords.

“Don Jr. and my Reps landing in Greenland,” Trump wrote. “The reception has been great. They, and the Free World, need safety, security, strength, and PEACE! This is a deal that must happen. MAGA. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”

In a statement, Greenland’s government said Donald Trump Jr.’s visit was taking place “as a private individual” and not as an official visit, and Greenlandic representatives would not meet with him.

Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha said his government hasn’t had formal contact with Trump or representatives of the incoming administration but reiterated previous comments from the country’s president, José Raúl Mulino, who said last month that the canal will remain in Panamanian hands.

“The sovereignty of our canal is not negotiable and is part of our history of struggle and an irreversible conquest,” Martínez-Acha said.

Trump, a Republican, has also floated having Canada join the United States as the 51st state. He said Tuesday that he would not use military force to invade the country, which is home to more than 40 million people and is a founding NATO partner.

Instead, he said, he would would rely on “economic force" as he cast the U.S. trade deficit with Canada — a natural resource-rich nation that provides the U.S. with commodities like crude oil and petroleum — as a subsidy that would be coming to an end.

Canadian leaders fired back after earlier dismissing Trump's rhetoric as a joke.

“President-elect Trump’s comments show a complete lack of understanding of what makes Canada a strong country. Our economy is strong. Our people are strong. We will never back down in the face of threats,” Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said in a post on X.

Justin Trudeau, the country's outgoing prime minister, was even more blunt.

“There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States,” he wrote.

Promising a “Golden age of America," Trump also said he would move to try to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” saying that has a “beautiful ring to it.”

He also said he believes that NATO should dramatically increase its spending targets, with members of the trans-Atlantic alliance committing to spend at least 5% of their GDPs on defense spending, up from the current 2%.

In June, NATO announced a record 23 of its 32 member nations were on track to hit that target as Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine has raised the threat of expanding conflict in Europe.

Trump also used his press conference to complain that President Joe Biden was undermining his transition to power a day after the incumbent moved to ban offshore energy drilling in most federal waters.

Biden, whose term expires in two weeks, used his authority under the federal Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to protect offshore areas along the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea from future oil and natural gas leasing. All told, about 625 million acres of federal waters were withdrawn from energy exploration by Biden in a move that may require an act of Congress to undo.

“I’m going to put it back on day one," Trump told reporters. He pledged to take it to the courts “if we need to."

Trump said Biden's effort — part of a series of final actions in office by the Democrat's administration — was undermining his plans for once he's in office.

“You know, they told me that, we’re going to do everything possible to make this transition to the new administration very smooth," Trump said. “It’s not smooth.”

But Biden's team has extended access and courtesies to the Trump team that the Republican former president initially denied Biden after his 2020 election victory. Trump incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles told Axios in an interview published Monday that Biden chief of staff Jeff Zients “has been very helpful.”

In extended remarks, Trump also railed against the work of special counsel Jack Smith, who oversaw now-dropped prosecutions over his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol and possession of classified documents after he left office in 2021. The Justice Department is expected to soon release a report from Smith summarizing his investigation after the criminal cases were forced to an end by Trump's victory in November.

Associated Press writers David Keyton in Berlin, Robert Gillies in Toronto, Jill Colvin in New York and Juan Zamorano in Panama City contributed to this report.

Middle East latest: Israeli strikes kill at least 5 in Gaza, including 2 babies, Palestinians say

2025-01-08 23:48 Last Updated At：23:52

Israeli airstrikes killed at least five people in the Gaza Strip, including two infants and a woman, Palestinian medics said Wednesday.

An Associated Press journalist saw four of the bodies in the morgue at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, among them a 4-month-old boy. Israel’s military says it only targets militants, accusing them of hiding among civilians.

In Yemen, the U.S. military says it carried out a wave of strikes against underground arms facilities of the Houthi rebels. The Iran-backed Houthis have been attacking shipping for more than a year, saying they seek to force an end to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and abducting around 250. A third of the 100 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be dead.

Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed over 45,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. It does not say how many were fighters, but says women and children make up over half the fatalities. The military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Israel has destroyed vast areas of the impoverished territory and displaced some 90% of its population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.

Here's the latest:

TEL AVIV, Israel — An Israeli group representing some families of hostages held in Gaza displayed an image of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on a huge electronic billboard in Tel Aviv with a reference to his threat to unleash “hell” if the captives aren't freed before he takes office later this month.

The group behind the billboard, Tikva Forum, has called for Israel to use increased force against Hamas to secure the release of their loved ones.

The billboard shows a photo of Trump raising his fist moments after his assassination attempt, and threatens in English “the fire of hell will open” if the hostages aren't released.

Many in Israel have been energized by Trump's warning, hoping it could exert more pressure on Israeli and Hamas leaders to reach a deal to free hostages in exchange for a ceasefire in Gaza.

A third of the 100 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza are believed to be dead.

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa received a delegation from Bahrain on Wednesday and met with the Bahraini foreign minister, state media reported.

The visit was the latest in a flurry of diplomatic overtures by Arab countries to Syria’s new leaders after they overthrew former President Bashar Assad in a lightning rebel offensive.

Like other Gulf countries, Bahrain had cut off diplomatic ties with Syria under Assad’s rule during the Syrian civil war, but it reopened its embassy in Damascus in 2018 and gradually restored ties with the Assad government.

Bahrain is the current head of the Arab summit, and days after Assad’s ouster it had sent a message to al-Sharaa offering its cooperation with the new authorities and saying, “We look forward to Syria regaining its authentic role in the Arab League.”

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. military says it carried out a wave of strikes against what it said were underground arms facilities of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

U.S. Central Command said in a statement that Wednesday’s strikes targeted weapons used by the rebels to attack ships in the Red Sea.

The Houthis said seven strikes targeted sites in the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, and the northern Amran province, without providing further details. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The United States and its allies have carried out repeated strikes on the Houthis, who have continued to target shipping.

The rebels say they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. to force an end to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes killed at least five people in the Gaza Strip, including two infants and a woman, Palestinian medics said Wednesday.

One strike hit a home in the central city of Deir al-Balah, killing two men and a woman, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the casualties. It also received a 4-month-old boy who was killed in a strike on his family house in the nearby built-up Bureij refugee camp.

An Associated Press journalist saw the four bodies in the hospital morgue.

In Gaza City, an airstrike hit a home in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, killing a 3-week-old baby, according to the Health Ministry’s emergency service.

Israel’s military says it only targets militants, accusing them of hiding among civilians.

Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed over 45,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It does not say how many were fighters, but says women and children make up over half the fatalities. The military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Israel has destroyed vast areas of the impoverished territory and displaced some 90% of its population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.