Donald Trump, the Republican U.S. president-elect, held a presser on Tuesday. He spoke about NATO, Israeli hostages, and his desire for the U.S.A. to purchase Greenland.

Elon Musk was also mentioned, as well as speculations about Canada becoming an American state.

Before his Jan. 20, 2019 inauguration, here are some of the key quotes.

CANADA

When asked about his belief that Canada should become a U.S. State, Trump replied: "You remove that artificially drawn border and take a closer look at how that would look. It would also be better for national safety." Remember, we protect Canada. Here's what the problem is with Canada. There are so many people I love in Canada. We spend hundreds of billions every year to protect them. We spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on Canada. We lose in trade deficits."

ISRAELI HOSTAGES GAZA

"All hell is going to break loose." All hell will break loose in the Middle East if they are not back before I take office. It will be bad for Hamas and for everyone. "All hell will break loose."

MEXICO

"We have a huge deficit with Mexico and we help Mexico very much." Mexico is in a serious state of distress, a very dangerous situation. They are essentially controlled by cartels. We are going to change the name of Gulf of Mexico into Gulf of America. It's a lovely name. It's a beautiful name. It's appropriate. Mexico must stop allowing millions to flood into its country.

PANAMA CANAL GREENLAND

Trump has been talking about buying Greenland from Denmark since he won his election on November 5. He also talked about regaining control of the Panama Canal. He did not rule out economic or military action in the context of his desires on Tuesday.

Trump said: "I am confident that we will need them to ensure our economic security." Trump didn't commit to negotiate a treaty, but said that the Panama Canal was vital for our country. He said: "It is operated by China. China. And we gave the Panama Canal Panama." China has abused the Panama Canal, which we did not give to them. They have abused this gift. It shouldn't have been made."

ELON MUSK

Musk, the Tesla CEO and Trump's pick to co-chair an commission aimed at reducing government spending, has criticised British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over his performance as the UK director of public prosecutions.

Musk said Starmer did not prosecute men's gangs who raped girls. Starmer claimed on Tuesday that Musk was "completely ignorant" of the scandals on which he commented.

Musk also expressed his support for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a right-wing party.

When asked for his response to Musk's "provocative remarks" about foreign affairs, Trump replied: "I think Elon is doing a great job." Very intelligent guy. I don't recognize the people you are referring to. He was. I know that he said negative things about some people who are running for offices, but it is not unusual."

TRUMP ON NATO

Trump believes that European NATO members should spend 5% on defense. "I believe NATO should be 5%. You can't have it at 2%, I mean, every country has a regular army, so you are at 4%. I think that they should be at 5%, because they are in dangerous territory. "They can afford it but should be at 5%, not 2%." (Reporting and editing by Ross Colvin, David Gregorio and Helen Coster)

(source: Reuters)