With President-elect Donald Trump floating aggressive desires to acquire foreign territories such as the Panama Canal, Greenland, and Canada, ambassador confirmations could emerge as unexpected points of tension with senators.   

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The new Congress convenes on Jan. 3, and with it, the new 53-47 Republican Senate majority. Committees in the upper chamber could begin holding confirmation hearings for the dozens of Cabinet and lower-level nominees the senators are tasked with considering as soon as the following week.

In Truth Social posts on Christmas Day, Trump again spoke of his territorial wish list that included purchasing Greenland from Denmark, annexing Canada as the 51st state, and retaking control of the Panama Canal. Trump will need a simple majority to confirm the loyalists he has tapped for ambassadorships that would play a crucial role in carrying out his foreign policy agenda.

While it’s not entirely clear the level of sincerity in Trump’s push to expand America’s territorial control, the incoming president is seeking to flex U.S. dominance in the weeks before retaking office.

He extended a lengthy Merry Christmas to “the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal,” to “Governor Justin Trudeau of Canada,” and to “the people of Greenland, which is needed by the United States for National Security purposes.”

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US ambassador to Panama

Trump named Miami-Dade County Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera on Christmas Day to be his ambassador to Panama.

Cabrera was the Trump 2020 campaign’s state director for Florida, a member of the Miami-Dade County International Trade Consortium, and helped lead the effort to rename a South Florida street “President Donald J. Trump Avenue.” Trump said Cabrera would “do a FANTASTIC job representing our Nation’s interests in Panama!”

“I am pleased to announce that Kevin Marino Cabrera will serve as the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Panama, a Country that is ripping us off on the Panama Canal, far beyond their wildest dreams,” Trump posted. “Few understand Latin American politics as well as Kevin.”

Trump has accused China and the Panama Canal of price-gouging U.S. vessels that use the 50-mile-long manmade waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through Central America. China, Trump said, is “always making certain that the United States puts in Billions of Dollars in ‘repair’ money, but will have absolutely nothing to say about ‘anything.’”

At a political event over the weekend, Trump foreshadowed that he might “demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America.”

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But the canal is controlled by Panama — not China. It was under full American control from the early 1900s after the U.S. helped build the global trade route until partial control in 1977. Now, Trump is threatening to upend a Jimmy Carter-era agreement that handed remaining U.S. control to Panama in 1999 unless U.S. ships see reduced fees.

While China does not control the canal, a point made by Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, the Asian adversary has expanded its footprint in the region with nearby ports. Still, more than half of the 13,000 to 14,000 ships that traverse the canal annually are coming from or going to U.S. ports.

In an ensuing tit-for-tat, Mulino said the canal wasn’t for sale. He stated, in part, that “every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent area belong to PANAMA, and will continue to be. The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable.”

Trump shot back in another post: “We’ll see about that!”

US ambassador to Canada

Trump has tapped Michigan Republican Party Chairman Pete Hoekstra to serve as the ambassador to Canada. Hoekstra is a former congressman, a Netherlands native, and was ambassador to the Netherlands under Trump’s first term.

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Trump credited Hoekstra as a “great help to our Campaign” for winning battleground Michigan.

Trump had a rocky relationship his first go-around with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and strained U.S.-Canada relations when he scrapped the North American Free Trade Agreement and imposed tariffs. Trump has countered his “America First” decisions were better for U.S. taxpayers and the economy.

As he prepares to retake the White House, Trump has increasingly mocked Trudeau as “Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada.” The incoming president posted on Christmas Day that if “Canada was to become our 51st State, their Taxes would be cut by more than 60%, their businesses would immediately double in size, and they would be militarily protected like no other Country anywhere in the World.”

While his annexation suggestions appear to be an extension of his love for trolling the embattled Canadian leader, Trump has vowed to slap America’s neighbor to the north with 25% tariffs on imported Canadian goods upon taking office unless border security and illegal drugs are better addressed at the U.S.-Canada border.

US ambassador to Denmark

Trump has nominated Ken Howery, a co-founder of PayPal and San Francisco-based venture capital firm Founders Fund, to be ambassador to Denmark. Howery was ambassador to Sweden during Trump’s first term.

As a self-ruling territory of Denmark, Greenland has found itself back in the crosshairs of Trump’s desire to purchase the Arctic island home to little more than 50,000 residents. Commercial and national security interests have fueled Trump’s endeavor as another way for the U.S. to counter Russian and Chinese influence in the Arctic.

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“For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” Trump said in Howery’s nomination announcement.

Trump’s longtime, but perhaps half-hearted, bid to purchase Greenland was rebuffed in his first term. Greenland reiterated this week that it was not on the market.

“Greenland is ours,” Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede said. “We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.”

The office of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen echoed Greenland’s sentiment but with softened rhetoric.

Denmark is “looking forward to welcoming the new American Ambassador [and] looking forward to working with the new administration,” Frederiksen said, adding that Greenland is “not for sale” but that they are “open for cooperation” in the region.

“In a complex security political situation as the one we currently experience, trans-Atlantic cooperation is crucial,” Frederiksen said.