Trump won’t rule out military force to acquire Greenland, Panama Canal | The Excerpt
On Wednesday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: USA TODAY White House Correspondent Joey Garrison takes a closer look at President-elect Donald Trump’s comments about Greenland and the Panama Canal. California Gov. Gavin Newsom declares a state of emergency as the Palisades Fire rages. After record highs, illegal immigration plummets at the U.S.-Mexico border. USA TODAY Congress & Campaigns Reporter Savannah Kuchar discusses the scene in Washington as the remains of President Jimmy Carter arrived Tuesday.
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I’m Taylor Wilson, and today is Wednesday, January 8th, 2025. This is The Excerpt.
Today, Donald Trump won’t rule out military force when it comes to his aims for the Panama Canal and Greenland. Plus, we have the latest on a major wildfire in Southern California. And Washington and the world mourn Jimmy Carter’s passing.
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President-elect Donald Trump won’t rule out military force to acquire Greenland or the Panama Canal. I caught up with USA TODAY White House correspondent Joey Garrison to put some of Trump’s comments on the two places as well as on Canada in context.
Hello, Joey.
Joey Garrison:
Hey there.
Taylor Wilson:
So we’ve heard a lot of news over the last couple of days regarding possible actions that Trump wants as soon as he takes office, everything from solving the Gaza hostage situation to issuing major pardons. But there’s also another story that’s creeping back into the news cycle, Joey, and that has to do with Greenland and the Panama Canal. So let’s focus on that last point today.
What did Donald Trump say here as it pertains to those two places?
Joey Garrison:
Ever since the ’24 election that he won, Trump has increasingly been floating these ideas about acquiring the Panama Canal, which of course is a major access for ships getting through, as well as Greenland, which is rich of minerals, an island of course in the North Atlantic Sea that is owned by Denmark, as well as Canada becoming the 51st state.
Now, the instinct for many people were to kind of brush off these comments. People were wondering, “Hey, is he serious here? Joking around?” Well, at Mar-a-Lago during a press conference on Tuesday, he was pressed more about these ideas and he was asked specifically could he rule out military or economic coercion to try to acquire the Panama Canal and Greenland. And he couldn’t rule it out, and he was pressed specifically on the military use front multiple times. And I think it speaks to the degree that Trump is serious about really making it a part of his agenda during this second term to try to get those two areas, Greenland and the Panama Canal. During his first term, he had briefly talked about purchasing Greenland, but it was never something that it was executed. And it seems that he’s making this part of the platform moving into now less than two weeks before he takes office.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, Joey, I think it’s still a little unclear what functionally he really is trying to accomplish with some of these comments. What’s the sense, just in terms of what he’s trying to do here, and would his aims for Greenland and Panama specifically even be possible?
Joey Garrison:
First of all, starting why he wants these things, the Panama Canal, he’s referenced the original agreement from President Jimmy Carter, of course, who just passed away, but the agreement he reached in the late 1970s to give the Panama Canal later control to Panama. He’s calling that a disgrace, accusing the Panama Canal authority of charging more for the entry of US ships than other nations. Trump has said that China is effectively operating the canal. He says this needs to be in US control. One of the lines, he said yesterday, “They charge more for our Navy than they charge for navies of other countries.” So this again kind of fits into this Trump theme that we’ve seen over the years of saying the US is getting screwed compared to other nations.
And when it comes to Greenland, as I mentioned earlier, rich with minerals, only as a population of about 56,000 people. Trump says it’s needed for “national security purposes” to help the US. He also went on to question whether Denmark, which again controls Greenland, has the legal right to the territory. And he said that if Greenland does not become part of the US, he would “tear off Denmark at a very high level.” So again, the actual mechanics into getting these are still a little unclear. Is it going to be to continue to mount pressure on Denmark to essentially give it up some sort of treaty? Is he willing to go that far? I mean, the more he presses this thing, it’s going to increasingly tick off a lot of American allies.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, Joey, you mentioned kind of ruffling feathers of American allies. Do we hear from any of the potential players on this issue thinking Greenland itself? You mentioned Denmark, Panama, Canada’s involved in this conversation. I mean, what do any of these leaders say?
Joey Garrison:
Yeah, some of the leaders there pushed back quickly and strongly through Trump’s comments. Of course, his comments about Canada come one day after former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned about Canada’s minister of foreign affairs. Melanie Joy said that his comments “show a complete lack of understanding of what makes Canada a strong country.” There’s been polling in Canada that show their people want to stay a country and not join the US. Trudeau actually, even though he is no longer in office, came back with a much more blunt comment saying there’s “not a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada will become part of the United States.”
And then we heard from the Danish Prime Minister, again, reiterating that the leaders in Greenland are being very clear that “Greenland is not for sale and it will not be for the future either.” So these various nations or the people that control Greenland and from Denmark, very assertive that they’re not going to have no interest in having joined the US from Canada’s perspective or Greenland. And so this is already setting up kind of a dispute between the US Trump’s administration and other world leaders before we begin Trump’s second term.
Taylor Wilson:
Donald Trump’s son, Don Jr. visited Greenland this week. Is there any relation to that trip and what Trump Sr. is saying on this point?
Joey Garrison:
Well, Taylor, I mean, yeah, it’s impossible to ignore that trip. Trump Jr. arrived in Greenland on Tuesday with a small group of people. As this comes as Trump, his father, continues to openly talking about acquiring it, it really raises eyebrows. Now, a spokesperson for the president-elect’s son said Trump Jr. would not be meeting with government officials and instead said Trump Jr. showed up there to shoot a fun podcast video. But nevertheless, I think it’s clearly sending some sort of signal about intentions when the president’s son, who of course is very close on a lot of policy matters with his father when he shows up in Greenland while Donald Trump is talking about acquiring the island.
Taylor Wilson:
Fascinating times. Joey Garrison covers the White House for USA TODAY. Thank you, sir.
Joey Garrison:
Hey, thank you.
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Taylor Wilson:
A fast-moving wildfire fueled by dangerously high-speed Santa Ana winds continues to threaten southern California neighborhoods. Some 30,000 people have been evacuated while huge plumes of smoke were seen hovering over Los Angeles.
Officials said the Palisades fire charred nearly 3,000 acres of the Pacific Palisades area between the coastal California cities of Santa Monica and Malibu. There was no containment as of early this morning. California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency yesterday and then urged residents to heed evacuation orders after he witnessed several buildings already destroyed by the blaze. You can stay up on all the latest with usatoday.com.
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Illegal immigration at the US-Mexico border dropped to a five-year low this week amid the holidays in the Biden administration’s ongoing efforts to contain unlawful crossings at the border. US border patrol logged an average of 1,000 daily migrant encounters in the seven days that ended on January 5th along the US.-Mexico border. A senior US Customs and Border Protection official told USA TODAY this week. The agency has not seen average daily crossings at that level since April of 2020 according to the official. Then it was the early days of the COVID-nineteen pandemic when global travel and migration slowed dramatically. Migrant crossings at the US-Mexico border typically dip right after the winter holidays, but the early January average was a quarter of what it was during the same week a year ago.
The number of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border has swung dramatically during the administration of President Joe Biden, surging to record highs in 2022 and 2023 before dropping in the administration’s final year to levels not seen since the first Trump administration.
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The remains of President Jimmy Carter arrived at the US Capitol for the final time yesterday for a service with members of Congress before the 39th President lies in state. I spoke with USA TODAY Congress and Campaigns reporter Savannah Kuchar to get a sense of the scene in Washington.
Savannah, thank you so much for hopping on today.
Savannah Kuchar:
Thanks for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
See now, Savannah, yesterday America watched as a horse-drawn procession carried the late President Jimmy Carter’s casket to the US Capitol. Would you tell us a little bit about those scenes?
Savannah Kuchar:
A casket with the late president’s remains were transferred from Georgia, flown up to Basin Maryland, and then taken in a procession down the streets of DC. We did see a transfer ceremony at the Naval Memorial in DC from a hearse to a horse-drawn vehicle. And the ceremony on Tuesday was to mirror Carter’s inaugural parade back in the ’70s, a procession from the Naval base up to the Capitol.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. So I know you were inside the Capitol for this congressional service that then happened afterwards, Savannah. Tell us a little bit about this. Who was in attendance and what was it like inside?
Savannah Kuchar:
Well, it was a really moving and obviously very solemn service. There were many leaders and members of Congress in attendance along with Vice President Harris and Second Gentleman, as well as Mayor of DC, Muriel Bowser, members of Congress were there, including leadership who all honored him, including Senate Majority leader, house speaker, and the vice president all delivered eulogies on Tuesday. And of course, members of Carter’s family were all there gathered on Capitol Hill to honor him. The…
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