WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President-elect Donald Trump struck an expansionist tone during a sprawling news conference at his Mar-A Lago club in Florida on Tuesday, saying Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal should all be part of the United States. He also said he wouldn’t rule out using military force to claim Greenland from Denmark and the Panama Canal from Panama.

What You Need To Know

  • President-elect Donald Trump struck an expansionist tone during a sprawling news conference at his Mar-A Lago club in Florida on Tuesday, saying Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal should all be part of the United States

  • He also said he wouldn’t rule out using military force to claim Greenland from Denmark and the Panama Canal from Panama

  • Trump pledged to reverse Biden’s offshore drilling ban on his first day in office, to rename the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America" and to make “major pardons” of Jan. 6 rioters

  • He also called on NATO member countries to increase the percentage of gross domestic product they contribute from 2% to 5% and said he will reach a Gaza hostage deal by the time he takes office or "all hell is going to break out"

“I’m not going to commit to that [ruling out military force]. It might be that you’ll have to do something. The Panama Canal is vital to our country. ... We need Greenland for national security purposes," Trump said during an event that began with a $20 billion foreign investment announcement in U.S. data centers that quickly digressed into other issues.

Asked if he would consider using military force to acquire Canada, Trump said: "No. Economic force."

“Canada and the United States — you get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like," he said. "It would also be better for national security."

Trump pledged to reverse Biden’s offshore drilling ban on his first day in office, to rename the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America" and to make “major pardons” of Jan. 6 rioters. He also called on NATO member countries to increase the percentage of gross domestic product they contribute from 2% to 5% and said he will negotiate a Gaza hostage deal by the time he takes office.

“We do have people that are hostages being held, and I’ll just say it again: If this deal is not done with the people representing our nation by the time I get to office, all hell is going to break out," he said.

Trump reiterated many familiar talking points during an nearly 90-minute news conference, pledging to increase tariffs and meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine.

Responding to news that Judge Aileen Canon had blocked the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s report on his criminal cases involving classified documents, the president-elect said it was “great news.”

“That’s the way it should be,“ he said, referring to Smith as a “deranged individual” who had pursued “a fake case.” 

Trump said that on Jan. 20 he plans to “turn the economy around very quickly” by ending Biden’s environmental policies and increasing U.S. oil and gas drilling. Doing so, he said, will help reduce prices on everything from bacon to apples.

“We’re going to have prices down. I think you’re going to see some pretty drastic price reductions,” Trump said, after acknowledging that inflation was a major reason he won the election. 

“This will be the golden age of America," he said. "We’re going to be a great country again. We’re a country under siege right now. We have a great country, but we have to run it properly.”