What to remember from Donald Trump's press conference at Mar-a-Lago

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) Less than two weeks before taking office, President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday took some of his boldest assertions and promises from the transition period and took them to new levels.

Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Trump did not rule out using military force to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, citing national security interests. Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, a long-time ally of the United States and a founding member of NATO. Washington ceded 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 national funeral rites in the capital.

And he stepped up his threats against Hamas, warning again that “all hell will break loose in the Middle East if the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza are not returned before he takes office.”

Some of the highlights from the press conference:

The new imperialism Trump

Trump ran with an isolationist, “America First” agenda, promising to spend more time worrying about America’s problems than the world’s. But since his victory, Trump has become increasingly concerned about a new imperialist agenda, threatening to take control of the Panama Canal, Greenland and even Canada, one of the United States' main allies and trading partners.

Billionaire Elon Musk, a frequent presence at Mar-a-Lago, even suggested in an investigation published on X that the United States should free the British people from its tyrannical government.

When asked Tuesday whether he would rule out the use of the military in Panama and Greenland, Trump declined to do so.

I'm not going to commit to that. You may need 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 reasons, the president-elect said. He also threatened to impose high tariffs on Denmark, while predicting that the people of Greenland would welcome his plan.

People will likely vote for independence or to come to the United States, he said.

Trump also repeatedly spoke about Canada joining the United States as his 51st state address, which at first seemed like rhetoric against outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but became more and more serious.

Trump told reporters he would not use military force to annex the country of more than 40 million people that is one of NATO's founding partners. Instead, he threatened economic strength, making the United States' trade deficit with Canada a natural resource-rich country that supplies the United States with crude oil, cars and oil as a subsidy.

Why are we supporting a country to the tune of $200 billion a year, he asked, insisting that the United States doesn't need Canadian cars, lumber or milk.

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

And, adding something new to the mix, he said he was going to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.

Mixed transition messages

Trump has repeatedly complained that President Joe Biden has undermined his transition to power, even as other members of his team have praised the cooperation of current administrations.

Trump this week denounced Biden's decision 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 parts of the northern Bering Sea in Alaska.

Biden's actions on offshore drilling won't stand, Trump said. I will reverse it immediately. And we're going to break through, baby, break through. He vowed to take the dispute to court if necessary.

Trump launched Biden's effort as one of a series of final actions before the Democrat leaves office in an effort to undermine him.

You know, they told me that they were 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 portrayed the outgoing and incoming administrations as working closely together, particularly on foreign policy issues. The Biden administration also provided the incoming team with access and courtesies that Trump initially denied Biden after the 2020 election.

Trump's new chief of staff, Susie Wiles, told Axios in an interview published Monday that Biden's chief of staff, Jeff Zients, has been very helpful, introducing her to former chiefs of staff and introducing her to welcoming for a dinner at his home.

Trump says he now plays leading role in Gaza hostage negotiations

Trump expressed clear expectations during his press conference: a deal to free the 100 hostages still held in Gaza must be reached before he takes office, in less than two weeks.

If these deals are not made for the people who represent our nation by the time I take office, all hell will break loose, Trump said, hammering home a threat he has been making since last month, without detailing what these deals are. ramifications could mean.

Trump is sending his new Middle East special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to Qatar this week for additional talks. Witkoff said real progress had been made in the negotiations, centered on a 42-day ceasefire agreement in exchange for the release of the hostages.

The red lines he drew are what led to this negotiation, Witkoff told reporters standing next to Trump.

One of the sticking points in reaching a deal has been Hamas's call for a permanent cessation of fighting to be agreed to from the start. Witkoff, in an exchange with reporters after the news conference, said Hamas' negotiating position had been weakened.

I'm not sure they have the influence needed, Witkoff said. I mean, they can say whatever they want.

Witkoff said he had near-daily conversations with Biden's Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, who has been the outgoing administration's main point of contact in the talks. McGurk was also in Qatar this week for discussions.

Witkoff praised the strong coordination of the Biden teams during the talks. But he also made clear that the specter of Trump returning to power changes the dynamic of efforts to free the hostages, which have dragged on for months. Israeli officials estimate that at least a third of those still detained are dead.

“I just think President Trump's personality is such that he's leading the discourse on this negotiation and it's so relevant that he's going in,” Witkoff said.

Trump criticizes Carter as former president's body laid to rest

Carter's body was flown to Washington from his native Georgia on Tuesday to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol — but that didn't stop Trump from searching the former president's home.

Trump said what happened at the Panama Canal was a disgrace. Jimmy Carter gave it to them for a dollar.

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

Trump has long criticized Carter, making his administration a punchline on the campaign trail as part of a broader dig at Biden for today's high inflation rates, although he has made few statements gracious upon his death, saying the country owed a debt to the former president. of gratitude.

Current presidents traditionally refrain from sharply criticizing past presidents, showing deference to other members of the informal presidents' club. But, like so many traditions in Washington, Trump was not afraid to flout that.

I loved him as a man. “I didn't agree with his policies,” Trump said when asked whether it was appropriate to criticize Carter as his body made its final trip to Washington.

This is a question that was asked to me. I didn't talk about it. “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, spontaneously.

Itchy heating

While pledging to expand offshore drilling and energy exploration, Trump also pledged to lower limits on gas heaters.

Biden, Trump claimed, wants all gas heaters removed from your homes and apartments. This was an apparent reference to an Energy Department rule released 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 condensation technology that wastes less heat, officials said. About 60 percent of new appliances sold today meet the new standards, and all major water heater manufacturers sell the most 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 heating is cheaper than electric heating, Trump said, adding that gas heating is much better. It's much better heat. As the expression goes, it doesn't itch. Does anyone have a radiator where you go and scratch an itch? That's what they want you to have.

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Colvin reported from New York and Madhani from Washington.

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