President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday railed against President Joe Biden and mused on renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America," among a flurry of topics in a freewheeling news conference at Mar-a-Lago less than two weeks before he takes office.

Trump began his remarks by announcing a $20 billion investment from DAMAC Properties, a Middle-East based company, to build new data centers across the United States, particularly in the Midwest and Sun Belt.

He quickly shifted focus, however, to criticizing President Biden's final actions before leaving office and laying out his desire to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal, not ruling out using the military to ensure what he called U.S. economic and national security.

Here are key takeaways from Trump's press conference, his second since becoming president-elect.

Trump blasts Biden on transition

Trump took aim at Biden's move to ban all future offshore oil and natural gas drilling off of America's East and West coasts.

The action is one of several Biden acts to preempt Trump's second-term goals.

"We are inheriting a difficult situation from the outgoing administration, and they're trying everything they can to make it more difficult," Trump said, contending they were not facilitating a "smooth transition."

On Biden's oil drilling ban, Trump vowed: "I will reverse it immediately. It'll be done immediately. And we will drill baby drill," but that could prove very difficult because the Biden ban is considered permanent under the law and Congress would need to change it.

Trump muses on creating 'Gulf of America' and seizing Panama Canal

As he discussed his desire for U.S. control of Greenland and the Panama Canal, Trump mused on changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America."

"What a beautiful name. And it's appropriate. It's appropriate," he said.

Trump said he wanted to purchase Greenland in his first term, which the island territory flatly rejected at the time. As Trump made the push again after his election win, Greenland's prime minister noted it is not for sale.

Asked by a reporter if he would commit to not using military force or economic coercion in his quest to acquire the territories, Trump notably did not rule it out.

"No, I can't assure you on either of those two. But I can say this, we need them for economic security," Trump said.

Trump also floated the possibility of imposing tariffs “at a very high level” on Denmark to acquire Greenland, claiming Denmark might not have any “legal right” to Greenland. As Trump spoke, his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was in Greenland for what he claimed was a personal visit.

Trump also didn't mince words in criticizing former President Jimmy Carter, who died last week at the age of 100, for overseeing the Panama Canal Treaty that gave the Central American nation eventual control of the critical waterway.

Trump called Carter a "good man" but said he believed ceding the Panama Canal is why Carter didn't win a second term. The comments came as Carter's remains were being transported from Georgia to Washington ahead of his state funeral.

"That was a big mistake," Trump said of Carter's decision on Panama.

'All hell will break out' if Hamas doesn't release hostages by inauguration

Trump was joined at Mar-a-Lago by Steven Witkoff, who he has tapped as his special envoy to the Middle East. The two were asked about ongoing efforts to secure a deal to release the Israeli and other hostages still being held by Hamas.

"All hell will break out. If those hostages aren't back … If they're not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East," Trump said.

Asked to elaborate, Trump only said: "And it will not be good for Hamas. And it will not be good, frankly, for anyone."

Witkoff indicated "really great progress" has been made on hostage negotiations during his brief remarks.

Ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel are "ongoing," Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majid al-Ansari said Tuesday.

Not ruling out pardons for violent Jan. 6 rioters

Trump declined to commit to not pardoning Jan. 6 defendants who were charged with violent offenses, including those who attacked police officers, when asked by ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Selina Wang.

"Well, you know, the only one that was killed was a beautiful young lady named Ashley Babbitt," said Trump, again seeking to downplay the violence that occurred as thousands of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Approximately 140 law enforcement officers were injured during the riot, the DOJ has said.

He also again falsely claimed that no one in the crowd carried firearms.

Praises end of Facebook, Instagram fact-checkers

Trump was asked for his reaction to Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, announcing it will replace its fact-checking program with "community notes." The move was announced by CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday.

"I watched their news conference and I thought it was a very good news conference. I think they've honestly I think they've come a long way, Meta, Facebook. I think they've come a long way. I watched it. The man was very impressive," Trump said.

Asked if he believes Zuckerberg was responding to "threats" that Trump had made to him in the past, Trump responded: "Probably."

Meta introduced the fact-checking program after Trump's 2016 win. Trump was banned from Facebook and Instagram after the Jan. 6 Capitol siege over concerns his posts were inciting violence.

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Trump wants to buy Greenland again. Here’s why he’s so interested in the world’s largest island

On Tuesday, Donald Trump Jr. landed in Greenland, the Arctic island his father, President-elect Donald Trump, has expressed a strong desire to purchase, despite sharp statements from Greenland that it is not for sale.

Trump Jr. framed the trip as “a little bit of fun,” telling CNN, “as an outdoorsman, I’m excited to stop into Greenland for this week.”

But the trip has fueled speculation about what exactly his father’s plans are for this Arctic territory.

In December, Trump revived calls made in his first presidency for US ownership of Greenland, calling it “an absolute necessity.” Asked at a Tuesday news conference whether he would rule out using “military or economic coercion” to gain Greenland — or Panama, which Trump has also expressed desire to own — the president-elect responded, “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two, but I can say this: We need them for economic security.”

The president-elect says owning Greenland is vital for US security, but experts say he may also be eyeing other aspects of Greenland such as its trove of natural resources — including rare earth metals — which may become more accessible as climate change melts the territory’s ice.

A unique geopolitical position

Greenland is the world’s largest island and home to more than 56,000 people. A former Danish colony and now an autonomous territory of Denmark, it occupies a unique geopolitical position, sitting between the US and Europe. Its capital city Nuuk is closer to New York than it is to Denmark’s capital Copenhagen.

It’s long been seen as key for US security, especially to repel a potential attack from Russia, said Ulrik Pram Gad, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies. The Northwest Passage shipping lane runs along its coast and the island is part of the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap, a strategic maritime region.

Trump is not the first US president to float the idea of buying Greenland. In 1867, when President Andrew Johnson bought Alaska, he also considered purchasing Greenland. At the end of World War II, the Truman administration offered Denmark $100 million for the island, according to documents first reported on by Danish media.

Neither offer came to fruition, but under a 1951 defense treaty, the US got an air base now called Pituffik Space Base, in northwest Greenland. Midway between Moscow and New York, it’s the northernmost outpost of the US armed forces and is equipped with a missile warning system.

The US is keen to ensure “no hostile great powers control Greenland, because it can be a foothold for attacking the US,” Pram Gad told CNN.

Rich in rare minerals

What might be even more appealing to Trump, however, is Greenland’s rich deposits of natural resources, said Klaus Dodds, professor of geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London.

These include oil and gas, as well as the rare earth metals in high demand for the electric cars and wind turbines of the green transition, as well as for manufacturing military equipment.

Currently China dominates global rare earth production and has already threatened to restrict the export of critical minerals and associated technologies, ahead of Trump’s second term.

“There is no question at all that Trump and his advisers are very concerned about the stranglehold that China appears to have,” Dodds told CNN. Greenland offers a potentially rich source of these critical minerals, he added. “I think Greenland is really about keeping China out.”

Opportunities as the ice melts

Melting ice and rapidly rising Arctic temperatures are giving Greenland a front-row seat to the climate crisis, but some also see economic opportunities as climate change reshapes the country.

The loss of ice has opened up shipping routes, increasing the amount of time they can be navigated during the Northern Hemisphere summer. Arctic shipping rose 37% over the decade to 2024, according to the Arctic Council, in part due to melting ice.

“Trump, I think, instinctively gets the idea that the Arctic is melting,” and the perceived opportunities, Dodds said. Although he cautioned, in reality, conditions along these routes are still often treacherous, and melting ice may make waters even more dangerous to navigate.

There is also a suggestion that melting ice may make natural resources easier to access, but the climate crisis has not yet proved much of a “game-changer” for this, said Phillip Steinberg, a geography professor at the University of Durham.

It’s not that climate change is making Greenland’s resources more accessible, he told CNN, but rather “more necessary.”

Could it actually happen?

The governments of both Denmark and Greenland have come out strongly against the idea the Arctic nation can be purchased.

“We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our yearslong struggle for freedom,” Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Egede wrote in a Facebook post in late December.

Kuupik V. Kleist, a former prime minister of Greenland, said Trump was talking more to US citizens than to Greenlanders. “I don’t see anything in the future that would pave the way for a sale. You don’t simply buy a country or a people,” he told CNN.

But Trump’s comments come at an interesting time for Greenland, Dodds said. Its Inuit-led government has recently been ramping up demands for independence from Denmark. In his new year address, Egede called for the “shackles of the colonial era” to be removed.

“It’s panicking Denmark,” Dodds said, which appears to have been focusing more on its relationship with Greenland. In December, Denmark announced a huge increase in military spending for Greenland. Then, at the start of January, the Danish royal family launched a redesigned royal coat of arms, increasing the prominence of the polar bear symbolizing Greenland.

Greenland has been looking to boost its independence by diversifying its economy away from fishing. It opened a new airport in Nuuk in November as part of plans to increase tourism. But it still relies on a roughly $500 million annual grant from Denmark, which has proved a big sticking point to independence.

This raises a very intriguing question, Dodds said. “What would Greenland do if Trump offered, say, $1 billion a year to have a different kind of association?”

Some Greenlandic politicians have been floating the idea of a special association, similar to the one the US has with the Marshall Islands, where Greenland has sovereignty but also financial support from the US, in exchange for agreements on certain US strategic interests.

Former Prime Minister Kleist expressed heavy skepticism this kind of association could work, however. “I don’t think either that (this) is of any interest. Just think of how the US have treated its own Indigenous Peoples.”

For now, it remains unclear how far Trump will pursue his stated desire to acquire Greenland once in office. “Nobody knows if it’s just bravado, if it’s a threat to get something else, or if it’s actually something that he wants to do,” said Pram Gad.

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