Takeaways from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago press conference

PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) — Less than two weeks before taking office, President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday took some of his most audacious claims and promises of the transition period and amped them up to new levels.

Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Trump would not rule out using military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, citing national security interests. Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, a longtime U.S. ally and a founding member of NATO. Washington relinquished control of the canal to Panama, another ally, in 1999.

Trump also criticized the late President Jimmy Carter just as his remains were being transported from the Carter Presidential Center in Georgia to Washington for three days of state funeral rites in the capital.

And he escalated his threats against Hamas, warning anew that, “All hell will break out in the Middle East” if the Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza are not returned before he takes office.

Some of the highlights from the press conference:

The new Trump imperialism

Trump ran on an isolationist “America First” agenda, promising to spend more time worrying about America’s problems than the world’s. But since his win, Trump has been increasingly preoccupied with a new imperialist agenda, threatening to seize control of the Panama Canal, Greenland and even Canada, a top U.S. ally and trading partner.

The billionaire Elon Musk, a frequent presence at Mar-a-Lago, even suggested in a survey posted on X that the U.S. “should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government.”

Asked Tuesday whether he would rule out using the military in Panama and Greenland, Trump refused to do so.

“I’m not going to commit to that. It might be that you’ll have to do something,” he said. “The Panama Canal is vital to our country.”

Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., is currently in Greenland, increasing speculation about his father’s intentions.

“We need Greenland for national security purposes,” the president-elect said. He also threatened to impose high tariffs on Denmark, while predicting the people of Greenland would welcome his plan.

“The people are going to probably vote for independence or to come into the United States,” he said.

Trump has also repeatedly talked about Canada joining the U.S. as its 51st state — rhetoric that at first sounded like trolling of outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but that has become increasingly serious.

Trump told reporters he would not use military force to annex the country of more than 40 million people that is a founding NATO partner. Instead, he threatened “economic force,” as he cast the U.S. trade deficit with Canada — a nation rich in natural resources that provides the U.S. with crude oil, cars and petroleum — as a subsidy.

“Why are we supporting a country $200 billion plus a year,” he asked, insisting the U.S. doesn’t need Canadian cars, lumber or milk.

Trump also renewed talk of steep tariffs on both Canada and Mexico in response to their handling of the northern and southern borders.

And, adding something new to the mix, he said he’d move to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

Mixed transition messages

Trump repeatedly complained that President Joe Biden has been undermining his transition to power, even as other members of his team have offered praise for the current administration’s cooperation.

Trump railed against Biden’s move this week to ban offshore energy drilling on about 625 million acres of federal water, including along the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea.

Biden’s actions on offshore drilling “will not stand,″ Trump said. ”I will reverse it immediately. And we will drill, baby, drill.” He pledged to take the dispute to the courts “if we need to.”

Trump cast Biden’s effort — one in a series of final actions before the Democrat leaves office — as part of an effort to undermine him.

“You know, they told me that, ‘We’re going to do everything possible to make this transition to the new administration very smooth,’” Trump said. “It’s not smooth.”

Other members of Trump’s team have repeatedly cast the outgoing and incoming administration as working closely together, particularly on foreign policy matters. The Biden administration has also provided access and courtesies to the incoming team that Trump initially denied Biden after the 2020 election.

Trump’s incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, told Axios in an interview published Monday that Biden chief of staff Jeff Zients had been “very helpful,” introducing her to former chiefs of staff and hosting her for a dinner at his home.

Trump believes he is now driving force in Gaza hostage talks

Trump set a clear expectation at his press conference: A deal to release the 100 hostages that remain captive in Gaza must be completed by the time he takes office in less than two weeks.

“If this deal’s not done for the people representing our nation by the time I get to office all hell is going to break out,” said Trump, hammering home a threat he’s been making since last month without detailing what those ramifications could mean.

Trump is dispatching his incoming special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, to Qatar this week for additional talks. Witkoff said real progress has been made on the talks, which are centered on a 42-day ceasefire deal in exchange for the release of hostages.

“The red lines he’s put out there — that’s driving this negotiation,” Witkoff told reporters standing next to Trump.

One sticking point in landing a deal has been Hamas’ call for a permanent cessation in fighting to be agreed to at the outset. Witkoff in an exchange with reporters following the press conference said that Hamas’ negotiating position has been weakened.

“I’m not sure they have the leverage to,” Witkoff said. “I mean, they can say what they want.”

Witkoff said he’s been having near daily conversations with Biden’s Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, who has served as the outgoing administration’s chief interlocutor in the talks. McGurk has also been in Qatar this week for talks.

Witkoff offered praise for the “solid” Biden team’s coordination on the talks. But he also made clear that the specter of Trump’s return to office is changing the dynamic on the efforts to release the hostages that have languished for months. Israeli officials believe at least one-third of those still being held are dead.

“I just think that President Trump’s persona is such that he’s driving the narrative on this negotiation — that it is that relevant that he is coming in,” Witkoff said.

Trump criticizes Carter as the former president’s body lays in state

Carter’s body was transported to Washington from his native Georgia on Tuesday to lay in state at the U.S. Capitol –- but that didn’t stop Trump from making digs at the former president.

Trump said it’s “a disgrace what took place at the Panama Canal. Jimmy Carter gave it to them for one dollar.”

Trump has spent weeks decrying Carter for signing a 1977 treaty that transferred control of the Panama Canal back to its home country in 1999. He argues that Panama is overcharging U.S. ships to use the waterway and has allowed China to increase its influence there.

Trump has long been critical of Carter, making his administration a punchline on the campaign trail as part of a larger dig at Biden for today’s high inflation rates, although he offered some gracious statements upon his death, saying the country owed the former president “a debt of gratitude.”

Current presidents traditionally refrain from sharply criticizing former presidents, offering deference to fellow members of the informal president’s club. But, like so many Washington traditions, Trump hasn’t been afraid to flout that.

“I liked him as a man. I disagreed with his policies,” Trump said when pressed about whether it was appropriate to criticize Carter as his body was on its final trip to Washington.

“This was a question that was asked of me. I didn’t bring it up. I didn’t want to bring up the Panama Canal because of Jimmy Carter’s death,” Trump added. But he had mentioned the canal earlier unprompted.

Itchy heating

As he vowed to expand offshore drilling and energy exploration, Trump also pledged to roll back limits on gas heaters.

Biden, Trump claimed, “wants all gas heaters out of your homes and apartments.” It was an apparent reference to an Energy Department rule published last month that would require so-called tankless water heaters to improve their efficiency by about 13% by 2029.

The updated standards would require products to use condensing technology that wastes less heat, officials said. About 60% of new units now sold meet the new standards, and all major water heater manufacturers sell the more efficient models, according to the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, an advocacy group that promotes energy efficiency.

“I don’t know what it is with electric. This guy loves electric,″ Trump said, referring to Biden.

Gas heat is less expensive than electric heat, Trump said, adding that gas heat “is much better. It’s a much better heat. As the expression goes, you don’t itch. Does anybody have a heater where you go and you scratch an itch? That’s what they want you to have.”

___

Colvin reported from New York and Madhani from Washington.