During a Mar-a-Lago conference then president-elect Donald Trump told reporters “The Panama Canal is vital to our country.” Trump also said he wouldn’t rule out using military force to take back control of the canal.
As background:
The United States built the canal over a decade in the early 1900s as a way to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, finishing the project in 1914.
Washington relinquished control of the waterway to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by then-President Jimmy Carter.
The 1977 deal consists of two treaties: the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal, also known as the Neutrality Treaty, and the Panama Canal Treaty.
The Neutrality Treaty stipulates that the United States may use its military force to protect the Panama Canal from any threat to its neutrality, essentially allowing the United States to perpetually use the waterway.
“American ships are being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape, or form, and that includes the United States Navy,” Trump said during his inaugural address in Washington on Jan. 20. “And above all, China is operating the Panama Canal.”
If, indeed, China, is now significantly influencing the running and the control of the canal, then that would appear to violate the Neutrality Treaty. … Hmmm!
At this point I suspect that Trump’s statements on the Panama Canal are commensurate of how he views the Art of the Deal.
Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino responded to Trump’s comments on Jan. 20, saying the canal belongs to Panama and will remain Panamanian territory.
However, I am not so sure that the Central American nation’s leader is willing to bet that Trump is bluffing!
“No presence of any nation in the world interferes with our administration,” Mulino wrote.
I guess we’ll see to which country the canal is vital.
1/23/25