President-elect Donald Trump wouldn't rule out military or economic coercion, saying the U.S. needs to stop China. Also a factor: climate change.

President-elect Donald J. Trump refused on Tuesday to rule out the use of military or economic coercion to force Panama to give up control of the canal that America built more than a century ago and to push Denmark to sell Greenland to the United States.

The canal was turned over to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999. For Carter, the deal signified a new beginning of mutual respect and cooperation between the U.S. and Latin America, as he said in his speech in 1978. It also showed “the last remnant of alleged American colonialism is being removed” during a time when the world moved away from imperialism.

Trump’s silence on whether he'd use force to take Greenland and the Panama Canal plays into a philosophy of foreign policy ambiguity.

In the space of an hour, President-elect Donald Trump called for absorbing Canada, declined to rule out using military force to seize the Panama Canal and Greenland, demanded NATO allies spend 5% of GDP on defense and vowed “all hell would break loose” in the Middle East if Hamas doesn’t release Israeli hostages before he takes office.

Greenland, Panama Canal in Trump’s sights Carter lies in state at the Capitol Meta will no longer fact-check content Who will lead Canada next? President-elect