Name: Trump refuses to rule out military force to seize Greenland and Panama | BBC News
Uploaded: 2025-01-12T13:14:11.000Z
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Adverbs of degree

Less than two weeks before his inauguration as US President, Donald Trump has repeated his desire to take control of both Greenland and the Panama Canal and even floated the possibility of using military force.

Mr Trump made his remarks during questions from reporters at his estate in Florida.

His son Donald Trump Jr was in Greenland today on what he called a personal day trip to talk to people.

Here's our North America editor, Sarah Smith.

This is a very deliberate signal of intent.

Of Donald Trump's genuine desire to take over Greenland.

It's no coincidence that his son, Don Jr, landed there today.

It may look like he's come for a property viewing, Trump style, before trying to buy the island.

We were talking to him yesterday, so he says hello to everyone in Greenland.

OK, are you still interested in buying Greenland or...?

Greenland is controlled by Denmark, whose Prime Minister says it is very much not for sale.

Its strategic location, sitting between the US and Russia, is why Donald Trump wants to take control.

People really don't even know if Denmark has any legal right to it.

But if they do, they should give it up because we need it for national security.

I'm talking about protecting the free world.

In a very wide-ranging, free-wheeling press conference, he listed all the countries that are in his sights.

And we want to get along with everybody, but, you know, they have to, it takes two to tango.

Revealing more of his global ambitions, he said he also wants control of the crucial shipping route, the Panama Canal.

It is essentially set for America's economic security.

The Panama Canal is vital to our country.

He repeated his threat to put crippling tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico if they don't tighten border security.

And he announced a unilateral plan to completely rename the Gulf of Mexico.

We're going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring that covers a lot of territory.

The Gulf of America, what a beautiful name.

Joined by his special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump says there has already been a lot of progress on efforts to release about 100 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

He wants them freed before his inauguration in less than two weeks' time.

If those hostages aren't back, I don't want to hurt your negotiation, if they're not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East.

And it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone.

I don't have to say any more, but that's what it is.

In under a fortnight, history will repeat itself when Donald Trump is once again sworn in as the U.S. president.

This time around, he wants to use the power of his office to reshape the world in a way that puts America's, and only America's, interests first, threatening and warning other nations not to stand in his way.

Well, we can speak to Sarah, who's in Washington for us now.

And Sarah, what are we to make of his stated ambitions?

I mean, during Donald Trump's first term, when he said things like this, people often wrote it off as a joke, and his officials didn't even try to enact his ideas.

This time around, he is absolutely determined that his agenda will be implemented.

He's making appointments with people he knows will do that.

And he really does have a bold and a radical plan of action.

What we don't know is whether to take it absolutely literally.

So, I mean, he talked about his ambitions with Greenland and the Panama Canal, and answered a question saying that, no, he couldn't rule out the idea of using military force to get what he wanted, although that was clearly not his first goal.

He even joked about taking over Canada, but, well, was it a joke?

I mean, we assumed so when he said it would be economic force that would make that happen, but we don't really know.

Donald Trump enjoys saying outrageous things, and it may be that it's an opening negotiating position, it may be that it's a literal plan of action.

He really enjoys keeping people guessing, keeping his opponents off kilter.

He thinks that that gives him strength in any of his negotiating positions, and people just don't know what he might do.

So, although it may look as though his second term is shaping up to be as chaotic as the first, if it is, this time it is very deliberate and strategic chaos when he sends out these confusing messages.