Donald Trump Photo: David ‘Dee’ Delgado / Reuters
US President-elect Donald Trump has announced the possibility of returning the Panama Canal to American control if the Panamanian authorities do not reduce what he considers to be excessive fees for using the strategic passage. He wrote about this on his social network Truth Social, the Hindustan Times reports.
“The fees that Panama is charging are ridiculous, especially given the extraordinary generosity shown to that country by the United States,” Trump said.
Trump also expressed concern that the channel could come under the influence of other countries, including China, and warned that he would not allow such a scenario to happen. “The channel should not be run by China. Its transfer was a gesture of cooperation between the United States and Panama, not for the benefit of others,” he stressed.
The president-elect threatened that if the “moral and legal principles of this generous gesture of giving” were not respected, the US would demand full control of the Panama Canal.
The Panama Canal, which was built with significant US funding and management, was jointly controlled by the two countries until 1999. After that, the United States handed it over to Panama, which became a symbol of cooperation and mutual respect between the countries. However, Trump’s latest statement may indicate a potential escalation in US-Panama relations.
