WSJ What’s News - Trump Escalates Panama, Greenland Threats

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

A.M. Edition for Jan. 8. Donald Trump declines to rule out using military or economic coercion to gain control of Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada. The WSJ’s Dan Michaels says the president-elect’s threats could be intended as an extreme opening bid for negotiations. Plus, wildfires force tens of thousands to evacuate in Los Angeles, as strong winds complicate efforts to fight the blazes. And dozens of House Democrats join Republicans to pass a bill expanding the number of people eligible for deportation. Luke Vargas hosts. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's in this McDonald's bag? The McValue Meal. For $5.79 plus tax, you can get your choice of junior chicken, McDouble, or chicken snack wrap, plus small fries and a small fountain drink. So pick up a McValue Meal today at participating McDonald's restaurants in Canada. Prices exclude delivery. Donald Trump suggests he isn't bluffing in threats to take over allies. Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country. Plus, wildfires blaze in Los Angeles, forcing tens of thousands to evacuate, and dozens

of House Democrats join Republicans to pass a bill expanding the number of people eligible for deportation. It's Wednesday, January 8th. I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's Wednesday, January 8th. I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal and here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today. President-elect Donald Trump is calling for the U.S. to take control of Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal, outlining a second-term foreign policy with economic coercion and potentially even military force at its core.

Dan Michaels is The Wall Street Journal's bureau chief in Brussels, the home of the NATO alliance. Dan, I'd like to start by playing a clip of Trump at Mar-a-Lago yesterday, and this is him responding to a question from a reporter. Can you assure the world that as you try to get control of these areas, you are not going to use military or economic coercion? No, I can't assure you. You're talking about Panama and Greenland. No, I can't assure you on either of those two. Dan, how significant are those remarks?

It's significant in that it's unprecedented from someone who's been elected as president of the United States. The US has generally not used force to expand its territory in the world since World War II and didn't do it a lot before then. And the NATO alliance and many other US alliances are based on peace and avoidance of military conflict. So it is a sharp departure from US policy of recent decades. Dan, we should note that the leaders of Canada and Panama quite clearly yesterday indicated

they wouldn't cede sovereignty. Denmark, meanwhile, which has control over Greenland, has indicated as much before. Though we were looking at comments from Denmark's prime minister yesterday basically saying Denmark, meanwhile, which has control over Greenland, has indicated as much before. Though we were looking at comments from Denmark's Prime Minister yesterday basically saying there were some good things about the U.S. paying more attention to the Arctic, that this was an area where threats were beginning to originate from. And yet she was very clear that Washington's interest in the Arctic had to, quote, go off in a way that is respectful towards the population of Greenland, end quote.

I wonder then, Dan, is it possible this could all be a means to try and open up some sort of negotiation depending on what it is Trump thinks the US needs in Greenland? Trump's interest in Greenland goes back to his first administration. The Wall Street Journal first reported that he was interested in acquiring Greenland during his first term.

It's rich in a variety of resources that are important to the modern economy, but it's hard to see a way that is other than a complete capitulation or a forced negotiation that would be seen as a sort of a sacrifice of sovereignty. I'll add Dan that according to our reporting Trump's advisors want to expand US presence in Greenland to counter China and Russia in the Arctic and they believe Washington could perhaps negotiate a relationship along the lines of a compact of free association which would stop short of Denmark actually giving up sovereignty. So maybe this is just about negotiations.

And I wonder if that is the case about some of these other comments from Trump, whether it's about Greenland, Canada, Panama, even possible this is just a bid to try and get these countries to the negotiating table. That's definitely possible. Trump has a track record of making extreme outrageous demands and then using that as his opening bargaining position. In his first administration, he pushed Canada and Mexico to renegotiate NAFTA by threatening to walk away from it. So it is certainly possible that what he's trying to do here is push a negotiation by presenting a very extreme opening bid after which almost any kind of resolution might come as a relief to the other parties.

And some of his advisors have said that's precisely what's going on with these three different cases. Indeed. It's quite possible this is about issues like getting better rates through the Panama Some of his advisors have said that's precisely what's going on with these three different cases. Indeed. It's quite possible this is about issues like getting better rates through the Panama Canal, getting access to rare earth minerals in Greenland and making sure that China doesn't have access to them, and twisting Canada's arm to finally spend more on defense. Yeah, that's a good point because buried kind of beneath these comments about Greenland

and Panama yesterday was this new demand from Trump that NATO members spend five percent of their GDP on defense. We should note that's a level even the US doesn't meet, but a signal perhaps that Trump is going to be once again putting a lot of stock on this NATO defense spending issue. Yes, and that's something he's been quite vocal about since before his first term in office. NATO members have acknowledged they need to spend more, and most of them are.

But the European average is now about 2%, which was the target for last year. Most members and NATO's Secretary General, Mark Rutte, have said that 2% is no longer enough. It needs to go higher. But nobody has suggested 5%. It would be very hard for any country to quickly spend 5% of GDP on defense, in part because

defense contractors, the companies that make the equipment that militaries use, are having a hard time meeting the demand that already exists. And that's at 2% spending. So if you were to more than double the spending, you would have more money chasing the same number of products, which probably would just drive up the price of those products. I've been speaking with The Wall Street Journal's Brussels Bureau Chief, Dan Michaels. Dan, thanks as always for the update. Always good to talk with you. Coming up, tens of thousands of people are forced to evacuate their homes as wildfires

threaten Los Angeles, plus the rest of the day's top politics and markets news after the break. About 30,000 people have been put under evacuation orders in Los Angeles, where wildfires worsened overnight amid high winds. The largest of them is burning in Pacific Palisades, a neighborhood along the southern California coastline between Malibu and Santa Monica, with officials warning of devastating losses there as the fast-moving fire reached nearly 3,000 acres. According to the fire department, the blaze was still 0% contained in the early hours of this

morning. Here was LA Fire Department Chief Kristen Crowley last night, courtesy of ABC7 Los Angeles. The fire is being fueled by a combination of strong winds and surrounding topography, which is making it extremely challenging for our personnel that are assigned to this incident. The National Weather Service is forecasting that powerful Santa Ana winds will continue through today with a broader set of what it described as critical fire weather conditions stretching into tomorrow. And for more updates on this developing story, head to wsj.com.

Well back in Washington, a House bill was passed with bipartisan support yesterday to impose harsher penalties on people who are in the U.S. illegally. The Lake and Riley Act, named for a nursing student who was murdered by a Venezuelan national living in the U.S. illegally, would increase the number of people eligible to be deported by referring those arrested for burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting to federal immigration officials. The bill received backing from 48 Democrats, up from the 37 who crossed the aisle to support it last year.

It now heads to the Senate, where it needs 60 votes to pass. So far, it's been co-sponsored by 53 Republicans and one Democrat, Pennsylvania's John Fetterman. Donald Trump is set to be sentenced in New York on Friday in connection with his conviction last year for covering up hush money paid to a porn star on the eve of the 2016 election. Trump's lawyers had asked a state appeals court to intervene to postpone the sentencing, but were unable to argue that presidential immunity extends to president's elect. It's not immediately clear what other legal options Trump may still have to head off Friday's proceedings. The judge set to sentence Trump has said that jail time is not a possibility.

Amazon plans to spend at least $11 billion to expand its cloud and AI infrastructure in Georgia. The tech giant's cloud computing arm says the investment is a response to high demand driven by the boom in generative AI, and that it will support thousands of local construction jobs and positions in the data center supply chain. And in markets today, Samsung shares rose more than 3 percent, despite the company warning that it expects further slowdown in earnings growth amid lackluster demand for conventional

memory chips and competition in the smartphone industry. The company is also struggling to catch up with industry rivals like SK Hynex in supplying advanced chips to the likes of Nvidia. China's benchmark stock indexes shrugged off the expansion of a home appliance trade-in program meant to boost household spending amid depressed consumer confidence and weak consumption. Officials vowed last month to prioritize boosting consumption, which would help to offset the expected hit from potential U.S. tariff hikes. And on deck, supermarket chain Albertsons, whose $20 billion sale to rival Kroger fell apart last month, is set to report earnings before the opening bell. And later, minutes

are due from the Fed's December policy meeting when it cut rates for a third consecutive time, with investors looking for clues about its rate-cut path for the year to come. And that's it for What's News for this Wednesday morning. Today's show was produced by Daniel Bach with supervising producer Christina Rocca, and I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal. We will be back tonight with a new show. And until then, thanks for listening.