PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. – President-elect Donald Trump took aim at the Biden administration Tuesday during a press conference tied to a $20 billion AI data center investment announcement by a Dubai-based developer now overseeing the Champlain Towers South redevelopment in Surfside.
Trump declared, “We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America,” while also issuing a warning to Mexico to stop cartels and considering the annexation of Canada.
“Our military is at their disposal. All of these other things — they should be a state,” he said.
Trump blasted President Joe Biden for banning oil drilling in federal waters, vowing, “I will reverse it immediately — it will be done immediately, and we will drill, baby, drill.”
In more than an hour of sharp remarks, Trump criticized the Biden administration for leaving the country “under siege” and former President Jimmy Carter — during Carter’s public funeral in Washington, D.C. — for returning control of the Panama Canal to Panama.
Trump hinted at possible military action, saying, “I’m not going to commit to that — it might be you’ll have to do something.”
The event also included a surprise appearance by Steven Witkoff, a real estate executive and Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East.
Witkoff, on his way back to Doha, expressed optimism about ongoing hostage negotiations, saying, “I’m really hopeful that by the inaugural, we’ll have some good things.”
The funding for the data centers will come from Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani, a longtime Trump associate and founder of DAMAC Properties, a property development company based in Dubai.
Trump introduced Sajwani as “one of the most respected business leaders in the Middle East, indeed the world.”
Trump said the “first phase” of the plan will take place in Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana.
Trump turned his attention to criticizing the Biden administration’s recent decisions, including a plan to prohibit future offshore oil and gas drilling along the East and West coasts of the U.S.
“We’re inheriting a tough situation from the current administration, and they’re doing everything possible to make it harder,” Trump said, adding that this is far from a “smooth transition.”
The proposal comes at a time of heightened tensions between Trump and Mexico’s leadership.
Toward the end of his press conference on Tuesday, Trump also said there will be “hell to pay” if Hamas’ hostages aren’t released by his inauguration.