Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said today that she does not believe that US President-elect Donald Trump really intends to use military force to control Greenland or the Panama Canal.
Meloni sees Trump's comments as a warning to China and other global actors to stay away from important strategic interests for the US.
"I think we can rule out the possibility that in the coming years the US will try to use force to annex territory in which they are interested," Meloni said at her first press conference of the year, where she was peppered with questions about her relationship with Trump and his close associate Elon Musk.
Meloni, who visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida last weekend, said the incoming US president's comments were "a message to some other major global players and not hostile moves" towards Panama and Denmark, which owns Greenland.
She assessed that behind Trump's warning lies an increased "Chinese protagonism" towards the commercially important Panama Canal and Greenland, rich in natural resources.
Trump said Tuesday that he was not ruling out using military force to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, which he said were critical to U.S. national security.