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President-elect Donald Trump stepped up his push for American expansionism on Tuesday, refusing to rule out using military force to join Greenland to the United States and regain control of the Panama Canal.

In a wide-ranging news conference at Mar-a-Lago – his second since winning the 2024 election – he also said he could use “economic force” to make Canada the 51st state of the United States.

“You get rid of this artificially drawn line and look at what that looks like – and it would be much better for national security,” Trump said at his Florida estate.

The imperialist land grabs that Trump is pursuing – which, if he carries out and succeeds, would mark the first major changes on the American map since Hawaii’s founding in 1959 – represent a dramatic break with the foreign policy approaches of presidents of both parties last decades. And they come at a time when Western leaders have resisted Russia’s attempts to expand into former Soviet territory, including its war in Ukraine.

During his hour-long remarks, Trump also addressed a number of grievances — including the lawsuits filed against him, the Biden administration’s handling of the transition, and energy efficiency and environmental regulations he doesn’t like.

Trump said he would issue “significant pardons” for convictions related to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and threatened Hamas with releasing the hostages kidnapped in Israel during the attack on October 7, 2023 .

“If these hostages don’t come back … by the time I take office, all hell will break loose in the Middle East – and it won’t be good for Hamas and, frankly, it won’t be good for anyone,” Trump said. “All hell will break loose. I don’t have to say more, but that’s how it is.”

Military action on Panama, Greenland

While he continues to push for U.S. territorial expansion, Trump would not rule out military action to take control of Panama and Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.

When asked directly whether he would rule out using “military or economic coercion” to achieve his goal of conquering these territories, the president-elect replied: “No.”

“No, I can’t guarantee you any of these, but I can say this: We need them for economic security,” he said.

Trump has frequently raised the prospect of adding both to the United States in public appearances and social media posts in recent weeks.

He said Denmark should give up its control over Greenland or face high tariffs as well. He also suggested that the people of Greenland could vote for independence or joining the United States.

“I’m talking about protecting the free world,” Trump said.

He again criticized Panama’s management of the Panama Canal, which he said was “built for our military.”

The U.S.-built canal opened in 1914 and was controlled by the United States until a 1977 agreement called for its final handover to Panama. The canal was operated jointly by both countries until the Panamanian government retained full control after 1999.

The president-elect praised District Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision Tuesday to block the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on his federal investigation into Trump.

“He was removed from the case in disgrace. Why should he be allowed to write a fake report? It will just be a fake report. This is great news,” Trump said of Smith when asked about the decision by a reporter at Mar-a-Lago.

Cannon had previously dismissed Smith’s confidential documents lawsuit against Trump, ruling that Smith’s appointment as special counsel violated the Constitution, which Trump appears to be referring to in his comments.

Her order on Tuesday blocks Smith and the Justice Department from proceeding with the release of the report until the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has time to consider an emergency request from Trump’s co-defendants to block the report’s release.

Trump again dismissed the cases against him as “false,” railed against Smith and called him “crazy” while praising Cannon, whom he appointed in his first term, as a “brilliant judge with great courage.”

While sharply criticizing Panama, Trump also criticized former President Jimmy Carter for the 1977 agreement, which came into effect during Carter’s term.

Trump plans to attend the funeral this week of Carter, who died late last month at the age of 100. And although the president-elect has long criticized Carter’s time in office, he issued a gracious statement after the Georgia Democrat’s death.

Still, Trump said Tuesday that Carter negotiated a bad deal with Panama.

“The Panama Canal is a disgrace, what happened at the Panama Canal. Jimmy Carter gave it to them for $1 and they were supposed to treat us well. I thought it was a terrible thing,” Trump said.

Trump continued to threaten high tariffs against North American neighbors Mexico and Canada if the countries do not crack down on illegal immigrants crossing their borders into the United States.

But in a new twist, he said he wanted to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.

“We will change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring. This covers a large area, the Gulf of America – what a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate,” Trump said.

In a sign of how quickly Republicans are moving to join Trump, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced she would introduce legislation to change the name shortly after the president-elect said so in his press conference.

Trump continued his attacks on the Biden administration’s handling of the transition before returning to the White House on January 20.

Trump said the Biden administration is trying “everything it can to make it harder” and is trying to “block the reforms of the American people and the reforms they voted for.”

Trump noted that Biden signed an executive action on Monday that would ban future offshore oil and gas development in parts of the Pacific and Atlantic in a way that would make it difficult for Trump to reverse close.

“They say we will have a smooth transition. They just talk. It’s all talk. All they do is say, “We’re going to have a smooth transition.” And then they take 625 million acres and essentially mark them off so you can never drill there again. Well, we will drill soon,” he said.

His attacks on the Biden administration’s role in the transition came after he posted a post on social media accusing Biden of making the transition “as difficult as possible.”

Angry windmills, leaky showers and electric heaters

Perhaps Trump’s most consistent policy position since he first ran for office has been his vehement opposition to windmills.

His recent comments were part of a broader criticism of environmental and energy efficiency – he complained about leaky showers, little water in dishwashers and electric heaters. (During his first term, he railed against water in toilets, saying in 2019, “People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times instead of once.”)

On Tuesday, he blamed windmills for a sharp increase in whale deaths along southern New England coasts in recent weeks. “The windmills are obviously driving the whales crazy,” Trump said.

He said that windmills “contaminate our land” and compared them to “throwing garbage in a field.” He said they are “the most expensive energy ever” and only those who build them with subsidies want them.

“We’re going to try to impose a no-windmill policy,” Trump said.

Trump opened his press conference by announcing that Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani would invest at least $20 billion in data centers in the United States.

Trump credited the investment to his own victory and said Sajwani “was very inspired by the election and wouldn’t be doing it without the election.”

Trump has previously promised to speed up the approval process for construction projects investing at least $1 billion in the United States.

Sajwani owns DAMAC Properties, a real estate development company based in Dubai. Sajwani, nicknamed “The Donald of Dubai,” was one of the few international business investors who maintained a close relationship with Trump in the immediate aftermath of the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

CNN’s Michael Williams, Kate Sullivan, Aaron Pellish and Steve Contorno contributed to this report.