Trump takes aim at Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal in Christmas Day posts

President-elect Donald Trump took aim at Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal in a series of social media posts on Christmas Day, suggesting the US could take control of all three.

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform and started long lasting posts by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, “including the wonderful soldiers in China who lovingly but illegally operate the Panama Canal.”

He referred to the American lives lost during the canal’s construction more than 100 years ago and added that the United States is “putting billions of dollars into ‘repair’ money but will have absolutely no say in ‘anything’.”

Trump then mocked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom he referred to as “governor,” and suggested once again that the United States could annex Canada as its 51st state.

He wrote that “if Canada were to become our 51st state, their taxes would be cut by more than 60%, their businesses would immediately double in size, and they would be militarily protected like no other country anywhere in the world.”

Trump continued his remarks by addressing “the people of Greenland, whom the United States needs for national security purposes, and who want the United States to be there, and we will!”

Trump said in another post that he had encouraged former professional hockey star Wayne Gretzky to run for prime minister of Canada, but that Gretzky “had no interest.”

In his remarks on Wednesday, Trump also mocked President Joe Biden as “a man who has absolutely no idea what he’s doing” and sent the season’s greetings to the “radical left lunatics.”

The posts are based on a series of messages Trump has delivered in recent weeks.

Trump has recently suggested that his administration could gain control of the Panama Canal and criticized the fees charged by Panama to use it.

The United States helped build the crucial shipping channel in the early 1900s and controlled it until 1977, when it entered into an agreement to eventually hand control over to Panama. The two countries shared the operation of the canal until 1999, when Panama assumed full control of it under the agreement.

In a formal announcement from his presidential transition team on Wednesday, Trump said he would nominate Kevin Marino Cabrera to be US ambassador to Panama, whom he accused of “ripping us off on the Panama Canal, far beyond their wildest dreams.”

Cabrera is a member of the Miami-Dade County Commission and the Miami-Dade International Trade Consortium.

Trump raised the idea of ​​buying Greenland – which is part of Denmark – in his first term. But he showed renewed interest in the subject this week in his statement announcing his intention to nominate Ken Howery to be ambassador to Denmark.

Greenland’s prime minister, Múte Egede, rejected Trump’s comments about his country this week.

When it comes to Canada, Trump in recent weeks has also mocked Trudeau as the “governor” of Canada while warning of tariffs on the country. He has also previously joked that Canada should become the 51st state. That was reported by Fox News this month that Trump also raised the possibility directly with Trudeau during a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.