President-elect Donald Trump again raised the idea of the United States taking over Greenland and the Panama Canal as he rambled through a series of grievances and complaints — some familiar, some new — in a wide-ranging news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Tuesday.
Trump started his remarks by announcing that DAMAC Properties, a real estate developer based in Dubai, would invest at least $20 billion in the United States.
“We've been waiting for four years to increase our investment in the U.S. to a very large amount of money,” Hussain Sajwani, DAMAC’s billionaire founder and CEO, told reporters, standing next to Trump.
The president-elect then went on to rail about a disjointed list of topics, including the state of the economy he’s inheriting; the Biden administration’s transition efforts; special counsel Jack Smith and the judge in his hush money case; President Joe Biden’s newly announced ban on offshore oil and gas drilling in federal waters; electric cars and windmills; shower heads with restricted water flow; the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan; and the war in Ukraine.
Among the key points:
* Trump confirmed that he likes the idea of “one big, beautiful bill” to pass key elements of his agenda via the budget reconciliation process but said he would be open to two separate bills, which some Republican congressional leaders prefer. “If two is more certain, it does go a little bit quicker because you can do the immigration stuff early,” Trump said. “I can live either way. I like the idea of the one big bill, but I can live either way.”
* Trump also said he’d be willing to include steep spending cuts as part of his legislation. “I’m ok with spending cuts. I like spending cuts,” he said. He also repeated his call for the debt limit to be addressed, saying he simply wants to avoid a debt default. House Republicans reportedly have made an internal handshake agreement to pair a $1.5 trillion increase in the debt limit with $2.5 trillion in net spending cuts as part of their reconciliation package.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Tuesday that Republicans intend to address the debt limit via the reconciliation bill so that they can decide on the details without having to negotiate with Democrats.
* The president-elect would not rule out using the military or applying economic pressure to retake the Panama Canal or force Denmark to sell Greenland to the United States. “We need them for economic security,” Trump said. He said he would “tariff Denmark at a very high level” if it does not agree to deal Greenland. And he criticized former President Jimmy Carter for agreeing to let Panama control the canal, which he says the United States is “overcharged” to use.
* Trump suggested that he could use “economic force” to make Canada a U.S. state, an idea he has raised several times. “Canada and the United States — that would really be something,” he said. Trump decried the U.S. trade deficit with Canada and said that the United States subsidizes and provides military support for its neighbor to the north to the tune of $200 billion a year.
“There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States,” outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded in a social media post. “Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other’s biggest trading and security partner.”
* He appeared to confirm that he wants NATO allies to spend 5% of GDP on defense, up from a 2% target. “They can all afford it, but they should be at 5%, not 2%,” Trump said, and he repeated his threat not to protect those allies if they don’t meet his target.
* He complained about economic conditions. “Inflation is continuing to rage and interest rates are far too high,” he said.
* Trump said he would rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. “What a beautiful name,” he said.
* He said he would issue "major pardons" for those who participated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
* He repeatedly promised “all hell will break out in the Middle East” if the hostages held by Hamas are not released by the time he takes office.
