Panama’s president has rejected a plan by Donald Trump to “take back” the Panama Canal, telling his American counterpart that the main trade route “is and will remain” in the country’s hands.
In his inaugural address, President Trump claimed that Panama had “broken” its promise to remain neutral, alleging that “China is operating the Panama Canal.”
President José Raul Mulino said he rejected Trump’s remarks in their “entirety,” adding that there was “no presence of any nation in the world interfering with our administration.”
The Panama Canal is one of the most important trade routes in the United States, with approximately 40% of all container ships in the country passing through the waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
In the first speech of his second term, Trump said: “American ships are severely overcharged and are not treated fairly in any way, including the United States Navy.
“And most importantly, China operates the Panama Canal and we didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama and we’re taking it back.”
The United States built the canal in the early 20th century but, after years of protest, President Jimmy Carter signed a treaty with Panama in 1977 to gradually return control of the waterway, which Trump called a “serious error”.
In 1999, Panama took full control of the canal through a treaty that kept it neutral and open to ships from all nations.
After Trump’s speech, Mulino said in a social media post on X: “The canal was no one’s concession. It was the result of generational struggles that culminated in 1999.”
Hong Kong’s Hutchison Whampoa operates two ports on the waterway: Balboa Port, on the Pacific side of the route, while Cristobal operates on the Atlantic side.
About 5 percent of global maritime trade passes through the 51-mile Panama Canal.
Last week, Marco Rubio, Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, told a Senate confirmation hearing: “The very legitimate concern is that these companies control both ends of that channel and that ‘in times of conflict the Chinese tell them to “shut up and don’t do it”. “We are not letting the United States go through this, we have a very big problem, a big economic problem and a big national security and defense problem.”
In his speech, Trump said he wanted to be a “peacemaker,” but Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia under President Obama, wrote on social media: “You can’t not be a peace president and take back the Panama Canal. “
In addition to the Panama Canal, Trump has already declared his desire to acquire Greenland, the autonomous Danish territory. Denmark has rejected any suggestion that it would abandon it.
Trump did not mention Greenland in his speech, but he outlined his expansionist vision for the next four years.
“The United States will once again see itself as a growing nation, a nation that increases our wealth, expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations, and carries our flag to new and magnificent horizons,” he said. -he declared.
