During a freewheeling news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump suggested he would consider using military force to gain control of the Panama Canal and Greenland and "economic force" to acquire Canada, Katherine Doyle and Vaughn Hillyard report. A reporter asked Trump whether he could assure the public that he would not use military coercion against Panama or Greenland, as he has floated in recent weeks. “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two, but I can say this, we need them for economic security,” Trump said. He said later that he would not use military force against Canada, only "economic force." Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here to receive it weekdays. “That would really be something,” Trump said of the United States’ taking control of Canada. “You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like. And it would also be much better for national security,” he added. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said afterward on X: "There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States." Historical context: As Scott Bland writes, the sentiment — like Trump’s breezy confidence about the ease and popularity of Canada’s joining the United States — is far from new. During the War of 1812, President Thomas Jefferson told Philadelphia newspaper editor Thomas Duane that “the acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching.” (Spoiler alert: It wasn’t.) Among other things, the National Park Service notes in an article about the comment, many in the United States wrongly “assumed that the Canadian population would welcome the arrival of American forces.” Later in the 1800s, a degree of pro-annexation sentiment developed within each of the major U.S. political parties, according to historian John W. Quist, united by a common thread that annexation of Canada “would occur peacefully and be welcomed by Canadians.” Public opinion polling of Canada illustrates a distinct political culture that’s far different from the United States.’ A September poll from the Environics Institute showed Canadians preferring Vice President Kamala Harris to Trump by a 3-to-1 ratio ahead of the election, though Trump fared better than Joe Biden in the same measure four years ago, especially among younger Canadians. (The poll did show a plurality of Canadian Conservatives preferring him this time, which was not the case in 2020.) Canadians generally have had favorable opinions about the United States over the last quarter-century, according to Pew Research Center surveys — but they were never lower than when Trump was president, dipping to 35% favorable in 2020 before they rebounded after Biden’s election. The Environics Institute’s polling shows a similar trend. Meanwhile, in Greenland: The king of Denmark has changed the royal coat of arms for the first time in more than 500 years to more prominently feature Greenland, Astha Rajvanshi notes. And Donald Trump Jr. arrived in Greenland on Tuesday accompanied by at least two incoming White House officials. | 