Yesterday marked the inauguration of the newly elected President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. 

Trump’s election marks the second non-consecutive term for any US president, with him winning both the popular vote AND electoral college, contrasting his previous election victory in 2016.

However, despite running on one of his campaign slogans of ‘ending all wars’, Trump frequently made promises to annex a number of territories in North and South America, namely Greenland and the Panama Canal, and made comments about turning Canada into America’s 51st state.

Oto spoke to Associate Professor in Cultures, Languages and Linguistics at the University of Auckland - Chris Ogden, to discuss the validity of these claims, why Trump was making them and what military expansion during his presidency could hypothetically look like.