US President-elect Donald Trump threatened on Sunday to regain US control over the Panama Canal, accusing Panama of charging excessive tariffs for using the Central American passage – a comment that led to the rebuke of Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino.
Speaking to a crowd of supporters in Arizona on Sunday, Trump also said he would not let the canal fall into the “wrong hands,” warning of China’s potential influence on the role.
China does not control or entrust the canal, but a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings has long managed the canal’s two Caribbean and Pacific ports of entry.
The president-elect’s comments come hours after he made a similar threat to Panama in his song on Truth Social on Saturday night.
“Has anyone heard of the Panama Canal?” Trump said Sunday at AmericaFest, an annual event organized by Turning Point, a conservative group. “Because we’re being kicked out of the Panama Canal like we’re being kicked out everywhere.”
Trump’s comments were a rare example of a US leader saying he would pressure a sovereign country to cede territory.
It also underscores an expected shift in US diplomacy under Trump, who has historically not shied away from threatening allies and using bellicose rhetoric when dealing with allies.
“The tariffs imposed by Panama are ridiculous, they are unfair,” Trump said.
“It was given to Panama and the people of Panama, but it has provisions. You get to treat us well, and they don’t treat us well.
“If the principles, moral and legal, of this great act of philanthropy are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us in full, immediately and without hesitation.”
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In a recorded message released by Panamanian leader Mulino on Sunday afternoon, he said that Panama’s independence was non-negotiable and China has no influence on the management of the canal. He also defended the pass rates charged by Panama, saying they were not set “as desired.”
“Every square meter of the Panama Canal and the surrounding area is and will continue to be part of Panama [to Panama],” Mulino said in a statement, released on X, formerly Twitter.
Many other Panamanian politicians, including members of the opposition, also took to social media to criticize Trump’s remarks.
The United States has largely built a canal and controlled zone around the area for decades. But the US and Panama signed two agreements in 1977 that paved the way for the canal to return to full Panamanian control. The US ceded control of the role in 1999 after a period of joint administration.
The waterway, which allows up to 14,000 ships to cross a year, accounts for 2.5 percent of global seaborne trade and is critical to the export of US automobiles and commercial goods via container ships from Asia, as well as US exports of goods to other countries, including liquids. . gas.
It is not clear how Trump would seek to regain control of the canal, and he would have no power under international law if he decided to make a pass.
This is not the first time that Trump has openly looked at territorial expansion.
In recent weeks, he has been seriously considering turning Canada into a US state, although it is not clear how serious he is about the matter.
During his first term, Trump expressed interest in buying Greenland, an independent Danish territory. The Danish authorities publicly rejected him before the talks could take place.
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