Washington: President Jimmy Carter, who died last month, for negotiating the treaty that ultimately gave Panama full control of the 51-mile waterway.
Panama’s Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha pushed back on the incoming US leader’s threat, saying “the only hands that control the canal are Panamanian and that’s how it will continue to be”.
The Republican has also suggested he would impose tariffs on Denmark if it resists his offer to purchase Greenland, which he said is “vital to US national security”.
In response, Denmark said Greenland was “not for sale”.
“I don’t think it’s a good way forward to fight each other with financial means when we are close allies and partners,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Tuesday night.
RENAME GULF OF MEXICO TO GULF OF AMERICA
At the same press conference, Trump announced that his administration would seek to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America”.
“We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring. That covers a lot of territory. The Gulf of America. What a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate,” he said.
The petroleum-rich body of water is the world’s ninth-largest, and has been identified on maps as the Gulf of Mexico since the 1500′s.
Trump’s promise to rename the Gulf of Mexico echoed his previous vow to revert the name of Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America, to Mount McKinley.
Former President Barack Obama changed the name of the Alaskan mountain in deference to Native Americans.
The President-elect also reiterated his threat that if Hamas did not release all the hostages that it abducted when it waged war against Israel in October 2023, by the time he returned to the White House, “all hell will break out in the Middle East”.
