Trump Picks Fight With Panama’s President Over Control of Canal
The president of Panama sparred with the president-elect, stating that the canal “is Panama’s and will remain so.”
Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump spent a good chunk of his Sunday musing on whether the United States should take back control of the Panama Canal.
He even picked a fight with the country’s president—writing “We will see!” and calling it the “United States Canal” after the Central American leader asserted that he would resist Trump’s demands to cede control over the waterway, which is critical to global trade.
Trump’s main beef with the country’s management of the canal seems to be what he claimed were “exorbitant” fees for American ships crossing the waterway.
“Has anyone ever heard of the Panama Canal?” Trump asked an audience of supporters at a Turning Point USA conference in Arizona. “Cause we’re being ripped off at the Panama Canal like we’re being ripped off everywhere else.”
The president-elect accused Panama of charging Americans “exorbitant prices” for ships passing through the trade lane, and accused China of exerting influence over the trade lane.
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“The United States is the No. 1 user of the Panama Canal, with over 72 percent transit heading to or from US ports,” Trump said. “Think of that—so we built it, we’re the ones that use it. They gave it away.”
The Panama Canal was finished in 1914, and the U.S. controlled the Panama Canal Zone for decades after its completion. The territory was returned to Panama after President Jimmy Carter signed two treaties with the Central American nation in 1977, which handed the territory over in 1999.
On Sunday, Trump implied that Panama was not upholding their end of the deal. “If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America in full, quickly and without question.”
Trump criticized Carter’s decision to return the Canal Zone to Panama, and suggested foreign adversaries were trying to gain control of the trade lane. “When President Jimmy Carter foolishly gave it away—gave it away for $1, $1—during his term in office, it was solely for Panama to manage and not for China or any other country to manage, you see what’s going on there. China!”
The canal is currently managed by the Panama Canal Authority, a Panamanian government agency. China does not directly manage the shipping lane, but a Hong Kong-based company, CK Hutchison Holdings, manages two ports at its entrances, Reuters reported.
🇵🇦 Mensaje del Presidente José Raúl Mulino 🇵🇦 pic.twitter.com/DMXU8qAuNT
— José Raúl Mulino (@JoseRaulMulino) December 22, 2024
On Sunday, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino slammed Trump’s comments in a video message posted on X. “I want to clearly state that every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjoining zone is Panama’s and will remain so,” Mulino said, later adding “the sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable.”
Mulino also rejected Trump’s assertion that China or any other nation other than Panama was controlling the canal, and defended the fees charged for passage.
In response, Trump took to his Truth Social app once again to taunt the Panamanian president, writing “We’ll see about that!” In a second post, the president-elect showed an image of a large American flag planted in the center of a shipping lane, dubbing it the “United States Canal.”
It’s not the first time Trump has floated the idea of expanding U.S. borders or acquiring foreign territory. In 2019, the Wall Street Journal first reported Trump was interested in acquiring Greenland, the Danish autonomous territory in the north Atlantic.
Since his re-election in November, Trump has also repeatedly joked about making Canada the “51st state,” even reportedly joking about the proposal to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The Trump transition team did not immediately return a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
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