Donald Trump refuses to rule out military force to seize Greenland and Panama Canal

President-elect also threatens to hit Canada with 'economic force'

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President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday raised his stance on Greenland and Panama, saying he would not rule out using military force to exert US control over the Arctic island and the central American nation's strategic canal.

At an hour-long media briefing in Florida, Mr Trump spoke of his expansionist plans for his second term in office and threatened to use “economic force” to annex Canada and make it the 51st state in the US.

He has long had designs on Greenland and first floated the idea of buying the Danish autonomous territory in 2019. He sees the vast frozen island as important for US national security because of its strategic location. The territory's melting ice sheet also covers deposits of rare earth minerals.

He also wants the US, which built the Panama Canal at great financial and human cost in the early 1900s, to regain control of the waterway it gave to Panama in 1999. The 82km canal connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean and Mr Trump claimed that Panama is overcharging US vessels to use it, and that China “is basically taking it over”.

He refused to assure the world that he is not going to use military or economic coercion to gain control of Greenland or the Panama Canal.

“I'm not going to commit to that,” Mr Trump said. “I can’t assure you on either of those two. But I can say this, we need them for economic security.”

In a statement last month as he announced his pick for US ambassador to Denmark, he wrote: “For purposes of national security and freedom throughout the world, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”

His eldest son, Donald Jr, visited Greenland on Tuesday and said locals “just want to be able to utilise some of the incredible resources” the territory has.

With Canada, Mr Trump repeated old grievances that Ottawa is ripping off the US by not investing enough in its own military. He said the US subsidises Canada and does not need its products, including cars, lumber and milk.

“They don't essentially have a military. They have a very small military. They rely on our military. It's all fine, but you know, they've got to pay for that. It's very unfair,” he said.

Denmark and Canada have dismissed Mr Trump's statements as fantastical, but his speech on Tuesday shows he is determined to use his “America first” philosophy to demand greater concessions from long-time allies.

“It would really be something if you get rid of that artificially drawn line,” he said, referring to the US-Canada border. “We’ve been good neighbours but we can’t do it forever”.

Mr Trump has threatened Mexico and Canada with new tariffs if they do not do more to stem the flow of migrants and illegal drugs across US borders.

He also suggested that his administration would change the name of the Gulf of Mexico, the south-eastern body of water the US shares with its southern neighbour, to the “Gulf of America”.

Donald Trump Jr poses for a photo as he arrives in Nuuk, Greenland. AP