President-elect Trump on Tuesday refused to rule out using military or economic coercion to secure U.S. control of Greenland and the Panama Canal. “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two. But I can say this, we need them for economic security,” the president-elect told reporters during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago. Greenland, with a population of 57,000, is a fully autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. It has oil, natural gas and mineral resources but its economy is reliant on fishing and subsidies from Denmark. The president-elect expressed interest in buying Greenland during his first term but was quickly rebuffed by Danish leaders. The U.S. previously controlled the Panama Canal until it was handed over to the Panamanian government in 1999. The country’s president, Jose Paul Mulino, has previously rejected the notion of giving it back to the U.S. At the same press conference, President-elect Trump reiterated his interest in making Canada a U.S. state and for renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” Watch more at c-span.org
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