TRANSCRIPT
"Well, we need Greenland for national security purposes. I've been told that for a long time, long before I even ran. I mean, people have been talking about it for a long time. You have approximately 45,000 people there. People really don't even know if Denmark has any legal right to it. But if they do, they should give it up because we need it for national security. That's for the free world."
With less than two weeks until the inauguration of United States President-elect Donald Trump, the incoming leader is already setting his sights on new territory abroad.
After recent threats to annex Canada, Mr Trump now says he's also interested in taking control of both the Panama Canal and Greenland.
Earlier, Mr Trump suggested he could use "economic force" to annex Canada, ruling out military action against the country.
Reporter:"You said you were considering military force to acquire Panama and Greenland. Are you also considering military force to annex and acquire Canada?"
TRUMP: "No. Economic force. Because Canada and the United States, that would really be something. You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like. And it would also be much better for national security. You don't forget, we basically protect Canada."
Despite ruling out using military force to annex Canada, he says he hasn't ruled it out for Greenland and the Panama Canal.
Greenland is an autonomous territory that's part of Denmark, but Mr Trump says the island is necessary for both national and economic security.
If Denmark refuses to give it up, he says, there will be economic consequences.
"I'm talking about protecting the free world. You look at - you don't even need binoculars - you look outside, you have China ships all over the place. You have Russian ships all over the place. We're not letting that happen. We're not letting it happen. And if Denmark wants to get to a conclusion, but nobody knows if they even have any right, title or interest - the people are going to probably vote for independence or to come into the United States. But if they did, if they did do that, then I would tariff Denmark at a very high level."
The Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, says Greenland is not for sale.
"Of course I want to put some words to the situation taking place in Greenland right now. I will make it very clear that seen with the eyes of the Danish government, Greenland is for the Greenlandic people. It is a proud people, a language and culture, that is their own. And as stated before by the chairman of the Greenlandic parliament, Mute Egede, Greenland is not for sale."
The Panama Canal is also on Donald Trump's expansionist wishlist, with the soon-to-be-president criticising the recently-deceased former US President Jimmy Carter for what he says was a terrible deal.
"We are being respected again all over the world. The Panama Canal is a disgrace, what took place at the Panama Canal. Jimmy Carter gave it to them for $1 and they were supposed to treat us well. I thought it was a terrible thing to do. It was the most expensive structure ever built in the history of our country, relatively. It would be the equivalent of substantially over $1 trillion today. We lost 38,000 people. Think of it, 38,000 people. They died from malaria, mosquitoes. They were unable to stop the mosquitoes. They paid people five times more to take the job. Many of those people died. We gave it away for a dollar."
In 1977, the late Jimmy Carter signed two treaties with the leader of Panama to hand over control of the Panama Canal in the year 1999.
The man-made canal was controlled by the United States for decades and seen as vital for U-S security and trade.
Now Donald Trump says China is running the canal, insisting its return to U-S control is vital for American security.
However, Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha says Panama has no interest in negotiating on the canal.
"Our canal's sovereignty is not negotiable and is part of our history of struggle and an irreversible conquest. Our canal has the mission to serve humanity and its trade. That is one of the values that Panamanians offer to the world, giving guarantee to the international community not to take part, nor be an active part of any conflict. The only hands that control the canal are Panamanian, and it will continue to be so."
So, what does Donald Trump want with Greenland?
Seth Borenstein, from the Associated Press, says Greenland, while development has been slow there, is rich in resources.
“So what does Greenland have? It doesn't have much people, 57,000. It doesn't have an awful lot of plants. I've been there. It's beautiful if you like white ice. But what it does have buried underneath that ice, according to the US Geological Survey, is a lot of oil - billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas. And even more important, it has rare earth elements that are needed for things in telecommunications like your cell phones. Right now, we get much of that from China.”
Donald Trump says he thinks America can Make Greenland Great Again.
His son, Donald Trump Jr, is currently visiting the island as a tourist, with Greenlandic officials reporting he will not be meeting government figures.
Aaja Chemnitz is a Greenlandic member of the Danish Parliament and says while all tourists are welcome, the timing of the visit is not ideal.
“My reaction to the Trump visit is that all American tourists are welcome in Greenland. We just had a new landing strip and we would like to see much more business development and especially tourism but also the extraction of raw earth materials in Greenland is something that we're quite interested in. So if you look only look at it as a visit from an American tourist, I think it's great but we all know that the timing, and also the dad to Trump Jr. is of course saying that he would like to own and control Greenland, and we don't like that. We find it quite disrespectful in Greenland."
