Washington, 8 January 2025 (dpa/MIA) - US President-elect Donald Trump has not ruled out using the military to gain control of the Panama Canal or Greenland after being asked various times at an extraordinary press conference on Tuesday.

When challenged by a journalist whether he could assure the world that he would not use military or economic force, Trump said: "No."

The Republican, who will return to the White House on January 20, added at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida that "I'm not going to commit to that now. It might, it might be that you'll have to do something."

His son Donald Trump Jr was in Greenland on Tuesday on a private trip.

Trump had previously described the transit fees on the Panama Canal as highly unfair and called for control of the waterway to be handed back to the US if it was not treated fairly.

The canal - one of the world's most important trade routes - was built by the US in the early 20th century before administration was gradually handed over to Panama.

"The Panama Canal is vital to our country. It's being operated by China," Trump lamented.

He also renewed his call for the US to take over Greenland, which is part of Denmark, and again refused to push back on journalists who asked about possible military action.

"People really don't even know if Denmark has any legal right to it, but if they do, they should give it up, because we need it for national security. That's for the free world. I'm talking about protecting the free world," Trump said.

"The (Greenland) people are going to probably vote for independence or to come into the United States."

He later added: "I would tariff Denmark at a very high level."

Trump Jr said he had no plans to meet with politicians during his brief stay in Greenland.

"Just here as tourists," Trump Jr said at the airport in the capital Nuuk, according to Greenlandic broadcaster KNR

Trump Jr flew to Greenland on a Trump-branded plane. Posts on social media showed him being greeted in the airport arrivals hall by people wearing red Make America Great Again caps.

Greenland is a vast island containing 2,166,000 square kilometres and 56,000 inhabitants.

"I don't want to be a pawn in Trump's wild dreams of expanding his empire and including our country in it," Aaja Chemnitz, a member for Greenland in the Danish parliament, wrote on Facebook before Trump's latest comments.

She also told Danish broadcaster DR she was open to cooperation with the US in areas such as tourism, raw materials and education. However, she emphasized that Greenlanders would decide their future.

Trump proposed buying Greenland in first term

The president's eldest son has not yet been appointed to any official position in Trump's administration, at least publicly.

However, he is considered a close adviser to his father and was heavily involved in the election campaign. Trump Jr's trip to Greenland is therefore also politically explosive. 

Trump caused a furore in December when stating the US "feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity."

Trump had proposed buying Greenland during his first term in office. The far-fetched offer led to a diplomatic dust-up between Washington and Copenhagen.

"Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale," the island's Prime Minister Mute Egede said in a statement last month, after Trump had floated the idea again. The Danish government reiterated its support for Egede's position.

Due to its location in the Arctic, its proximity to Russia, its suspected mineral resources and an important US military base, the island is strategically important for both the US and Denmark.

Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen emphasized in December that Denmark could not monitor Greenland's vast territory on its own. "There are no concrete plans, but we will work with the US," he said.

New Danish coat of arms gives Greenland more prominence

Recently, the Danish government announced plans to strengthen Greenland's security with a large investment.

Since the start of the year, the new royal coat of arms has also given more prominence to Greenland, symbolized by a polar bear. The Faroe Islands, part of the Danish realm, are featured more too.

The Danish court stated that King Frederik X aimed to create a contemporary coat of arms with the changes. Whether the renewal is linked to Trump's interest in Greenland remains unclear.