US President-elect Donald Trump held an hour-long press conference — his second since victory in the November election — and made global headlines once again. He gave a 30-minute speech, somersaulting from one topic to another in his own inimitable style, before he took questions. Trump made a series of assertions and pronouncements which are expected to keep world politics heated before he returns to the White House and also in the early weeks of his second term as the President of the United States (POTUS).
At the much-watched news presser, Trump reiterated his antics of acquiring the Panama Canal, Greenland and Canada through different means. Strong reactions have come from the leaderships of the target countries. He also appeared to normalise Capitol Hill riots of 2020 and dismissed the concerns of climate change and global warming. Trump also threatened his Nato allies. Every statement of his at the presser seemed to be a political bomb that he dropped on friends and foes alike.
Here are seven big takeaways from his marathon press conference the incoming US president held at his Florida resort:
Trump wants territories
Trump’s politica has been about ‘Making America Great Again (MAGA)’, a political slogan he coined for his presidential campaign in 2020 and ran successfully in 2024. MAGA is America First policy — a difficult proposition for a country that has built its political, economic and strategic capital on collaborations with the outside world for close to a century.
During the last year’s campaign, Trump spoke often about keeping his focus on domestic issues and avoiding international entanglements while emphasising give-and-take basis for his administration’s approach with other countries, particularly from those in Europe and emerging economies of Asia.
On Tuesday, Trump doubled down on his previous off-the-cuff remarks about territorial expansion. The US president-elect suggested he is serious about expanding the most powerful country’s territory — by acquiring Greenland and retaking control of the Panama Canal. He described these moves to be in America’s national security interests.
When asked specifically, Trump refused to rule out military force or economic pressure to achieve either — something China’s Xi Jinping has been asserting to address the Taiwan question.
Pushing his Canada acquisition ambition, Trump described the US’s border with its northern neighbour as an “artificially drawn line”. He reiterated the claim that Canada would be better off if it simply surrendered its sovereignty and became part of the US —- drawing sharp retort from Ottawa, with outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, another cornered leader, saying that “there isn’t a snowball’s chance” of such a US-Canada merger.
It’s not always clear whether Trump is prepared to back some of his more outlandish assertions with actions, but his comments surely alarmed governments around the world who fear the US under Trump could act impulsively in foreign policy matters.
Trump turns friends into foes
Rattling top leaders has been a trademark of Trump’s politics. Its glimpses were seen during Barack Obama’s presidency, when at the 2016 White House correspondents’ dinner the then-president took a series of jibes at the flamboyant billionaire.
News agency Reuters has remarked that Trump always needs opponents to push against, even if they are allies.
At his press conference, Trump not only trolled Trudeau and Canada he went after the government of Panama. He accused Panama of overcharging US cargo ships that pass through the Panama Canal. Further, Trump called Mexico a “very dangerous place”, vowing to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
Across the Atlantic, Trump trained his guns at Denmark. He said Denmark’s claim on Greenland was illegitimate. He said, “People really don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right, but if they do, they should give it up, because we need it for national security.”
The fact is Greenland has been part of Denmark for more than 200 years. The current legal boundaries and territorial claims of the modern political world were defined by the rules framed after the Second World War that ended in the 1940s. Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland was not challenged before.
Trump defines his own truth
For a very long time, Trump has been accused of spreading misinformation — a reason why he was banned on Twitter (now known as X) before his ‘first buddy’ Elon Musk bought and rebranded it. Trump launched his own social media platform by the name, Truth, which many believed was conceived to peddle his political lies.
In winning the 2024 fight for the White House, Trump amplified American voters’ anxieties over the state of the US economy, particularly inflation and cost of living, dismissing government reports that were released by the Joe Biden administration.
During his interaction with journalists, Trump continued to paint a grim picture, despite a host of indicators that suggest the economy is in fact strong. Trump declared, “We are inheriting a difficult situation from the outgoing administration.”
It’s true that US consumers are still grappling with the cost of groceries, insurance, housing and borrowing money. But at the same time, under the Biden administration, unemployment remains at record lows, wages are rising, the stock market is soaring and domestic energy production is at its peak.
However, Trump refused to concede the positives for it would be laying the groundwork for assessing his own performance if the economy begins to lose steam during his tenure, which begins on January 20. Better to tell Americans things are bad now, before he takes office, Reuters remarked in its assessment on Trump’s presser.
Trump races to take credit for West Asia peace talks
The Biden administration has shown unprecedented urgency in ending Israel’s wars in West Asia. The Lebanon peace deal has already been done, ending Israel’s war with Hezbollah. The US pressure ensured that Iran and Israel did not get to a full-fledged war.
Now, the focus is on truce talks between Israel and Hamas that has been governing Gaza for years. The US, Qatar and Egypt are among countries mediating the talks. Amid ongoing hectic parleys, Trump has been threatening Hamas and Israel to strike a deal before he inaugurates his second term, failing which the parties would face serious consequences — without specifying that those could be.
On Tuesday, Trump repeated his threat. “All hell is going to break loose. All hell will break loose in the Middle East [West Asia] if they are not back before I take office. It will be bad for Hamas and for everyone. All hell will break loose,” he said.
This looks like an attempt to take credit even if the deal happens before January 20. Reports from negotiation rooms suggest that the deal is most likely to happen in the coming weeks.
Violating laws is normal
January 6 has become a day of anxiety in the US after Trump supporters invaded Capitol Hill on this day in 2020 as the Republican leader refused to accept the election verdict and attempt to stall transition of power to Joe Biden, who had won the 2019 presidential election.
In contrast, this year the outgoing administration made it a peaceful transition with Vice President Kamala Harris certifying her own defeat at the hands of Trump in the 2024 election.
The question has been on common Americans’ minds is that if the Capitol Hill rioters will be brought to justice under the Trump administration.
Trump has pledged to issue pardons for many of his supporters implicated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. On Tuesday, he expressed how deep his sympathies for those defendants lie.
Asked if he would consider pardoning violent offenders, Trump incorrectly asserted that only one person, protester Ashli Babbitt, was killed that day even though three others in the crowd lost their lives.
At one point, Trump suggested, without offering evidence, that the FBI may have planted agents among the protesters. The president-election echoed an argument that advocates for the defendants have made: that if those who stormed the building had wanted an insurrection, they would have brought guns. Prosecutors, however, did charge some protesters with having guns on Capitol grounds.
Trump even complained that some defendants had been prosecuted who “didn’t even walk into the building”. That could have been an allusion to ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who is serving a 22-year sentence for directing the Capitol assault from a remote location. Tarrio asked Trump on Monday for a full pardon for his actions.
For Trump, climate change is a hoax
Trump slammed Biden for his latest push to curtail drilling in the US. On Tuesday, Trump even looked confused about certain things. For example, he criticised the Biden administration’s move to ban gas water heaters, which he apparently confused with gas space heaters.
He said gas provides “a much better heat. As the expression goes, you don’t itch. Does anybody have a heater where you go and you scratch?”
That led to Trump complaining about low-flow faucets and shower heads, saying that even in regions with plentiful water, the Biden administration irrationally seeks to conserve it.
Trump curiously said, “It’s called rain, it…comes down from heaven. No water comes out of the shower. It goes drip, drip, drip. So what happens? You’re in the shower 10 times as long.”
Trump reiterated his dislike for windmills. He said “nobody wants them” as the coastal turbines are driving whales to kill themselves. “The windmills are driving the whales crazy,” the president-elect said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), however, says there are no known links between large whale deaths and ongoing offshore wind activities.
Trump says Musk ‘doing great’
Musk with his posts on X has been regularly hitting global headlines — needling one or the other world leader with routine consistency since Trump won the US presidential election two months ago. Trump has picked the Tesla CEO to co-chair a commission aimed at reducing government spending and improving its efficiency.
But Musk has been accused of meddling in government affairs and politics of several other countries — Denmark, Canada, Germany, France and the UK to name a few.
He has recently criticised the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, demanding prison term for the Labour leader who won a remarkable election last year, over his performance as the UK director of public prosecutions.
Musk alleges that Starmer did not prosecute gangs that raped girls. Starmer has dismissed those allegations, saying Musk is “completely ignorant” of the scandals he is commenting on.
In Germany, Musk has extended support for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a right-wing party that unnerves many in the country.
But when Trump was asked for his response to Musk’s “provocative remarks” about foreign affairs, the president-elect said, “I think Elon is doing a great job.”
Trump said, “[Musk is a] very intelligent guy. I don’t recognise the people you are referring to. He was. I know that he said negative things about some people who are running for offices, but it is not unusual.”
The UK, Germany and France have been the US’s closest European allies for decades.
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