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President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to take over control of the Panama Canal unless the Panamanian authorities stop charging excessive rate for the use of the chokepoint.
“Has anyone ever heard of the Panama Canal?” Trump said at a conservative event in Arizona, as quoted by Reuters. “Because we’re being ripped off at the Panama Canal like we’re being ripped off everywhere else.”
“It was given to Panama and the people of Panama, but it has provisions,” Trump went on to say of the Panama Canal. “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 us, in full, quickly and without question,” Trump said.
The statements prompted an immediate response from the president of Panama, Jose Raul Mulino, who said that Panama’s sovereignty was non-negotiable and Panama had sole authority over the infrastructure.
“Every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent areas belongs to Panama and will continue belonging to Panama,” Mulino said, adding that “The canal has no direct or indirect control from China, nor the European Union, nor the United States or any other power. As a Panamanian, I reject any manifestation that misrepresents this reality.”
The latter remarks were made in response to a suggestion by Trump that the Panama Canal’s management was being influenced by Chinese interests. According to Reuters, a subsidiary of a Hong-Kong-based company manages two ports along the Panama Canal.
The canal was built by the United States in the early 20th century. Panama granted the U.S. the right to build and operate the canal in exchange for annual payments. Ownership over the infrastructure was passed to the Panamanian government in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter. The deal granted control over the Panama canal to the local government under obligation of maintaining its neutrality.
