Trump also warns he would not let a \u2018vital national asset\u2019 for the US fall into the \u2018wrong hands\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Donald Trump<\/a> has demanded that the Panama Canal be given back to the US if Panama did not manage the waterway in a fashion that was acceptable to him \u2013 and he accused the central American country of charging excessive rates for use of the ocean-connecting ship passage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe fees being charged by Panama<\/a> are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the US,\u201d Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform late Saturday, a little more than a month before the start of his second US presidency. \u201cThis complete \u2018rip-off\u2019 of our Country will immediately stop\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the evening post, Trump also warned he would not let the canal fall into the \u201cwrong hands\u201d. And he seemed to warn of potential Chinese influence on the passage, writing the canal should not be managed by China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump said the Panama<\/a> Canal was a \u201cvital national asset\u201d for the US, calling it \u201ccrucial\u201d for commerce and national security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Panama\u2019s president Jos\u00e9 Ra\u00fal Mulino later rebuffed Trump\u2019s threat, saying that the canal\u2019s transit fees aren\u2019t inflated and its sovereignty isn\u2019t re-negotiable. Trump\u2019s warning comes days after the president-elect mused in an early-morning thought blast<\/a> that Canadians might want Canada to become America\u2019s 51st state, taunting prime minister Justin Trudeau as \u201cGovernor Trudeau\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s Panama thinking underscores an expected shift in US diplomacy after he takes office in January, particularly in regard to China and European security. On Friday,\u2002the Financial Times reported\u2002<\/a>that Trump\u2019s team had told European officials that he will demand Nato member states increase defence spending to 5% of their GDP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s rhetorical threat to Panama, however, comes 25 years after the US handed full control of the canal to Panama following a period of joint administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1977, president Jimmy Carter negotiated the Torrijos-Carter Treaties that gave Panama control of the canal and the Neutrality Treaty, which allowed the US to defend the canal\u2019s neutrality. The canal is currently administered by the Panama Canal Authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US completed the 51-mile canal through the Central American isthmus in 1914 and is still the canal\u2019s biggest customer, responsible for about three quarters of the cargo transiting through each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n China is the canal\u2019s second-biggest customer, and a Chinese company based in Hong Kong controls two of the five ports adjacent to the canal, one on each side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But a prolonged drought has hampered the canal\u2019s ability to move ships<\/a> between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. National economic council director Lael Brainard said last week that shipping disruptions contributed to the supply-chain pressures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Panama Canal has experienced a 29% decrease in ship transits over the past fiscal year due to severe drought conditions, according to the canal authority. From October 2023 to September 2024, only 9,944 vessels passed through the canal, compared to 14,080 the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his post, Trump suggested that the canal was in danger of falling into the wrong hands, saying the canal isn\u2019t China\u2019s to manage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was not given for the benefit of others, but merely as a token of cooperation with us and Panama,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf 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 us, in full, and without question. To the Officials of Panama, please be guided accordingly!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/strong>\u201cEvery square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent zones is part of Panama, and it will continue to be,\u201d Mulino said on Sunday in a video statement on Twitter\/X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n