About this episode
It was a press conference intended to showcase investment from a Dubai-based firm in new US data centres, but its focus quickly switched to what the incoming president might do when it comes to America’s closest neighbours. Fielding questions from reporters, Donald Trump refused to rule out the use of military force to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal. While he appeared to rule out the possibility when it came to Canada, Trump did say he would use “economic force” to annex Canada and described their shared border as “an artificially drawn line”. How seriously should the world take Trump’s threats, and what do they indicate about his strategy when he takes office in 12 days time? HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter • Sarah Smith, North America Editor • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent GET IN TOUCH: * Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB * Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 * Email Americast@bbc.co.uk * Or use #Americast This episode was made by George Dabby with Rufus Gray, Catherine Fusillo and Claire Betzer. The technical producer is Michael Regaard. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham. If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app. You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers. US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155 Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including The Global Story, The Today Podcast, and of course Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below. The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd The Today Podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl Ukrainecast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0bqztzm