Newly elected President Donald Trump threatened on Saturday that the U.S. would retake control of the Panama Canal if Panama is deemed not to be honoring the terms of a 1977 treaty regarding the legal status of the waterway.
In two lengthy Truth Social posts on Saturday evening, Trump accused Panama of charging American ships high fees to pass through the critical waterway.
He also claimed that the treaties allowing Panama to take control of the canal in the first place also permit the U.S. to reclaim it.
“If the principles, morals, and legality of this grand gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand the Panama Canal be returned to us in full and without dispute,” Trump wrote. It is unclear what triggered Trump’s comments about the canal. While China has increased its presence in Latin America over the past two decades – and a Hong Kong-based company operates two ports at either end of the canal – no Chinese commercial or governmental entity plays a direct role in managing the flow of ships through the critical waterway.
The canal is administered by an independent Panamanian government agency, the Panama Canal Authority, and China has made no public move to purchase the canal or expand its footprint in the country in recent months.
Meanwhile, Panama recently elected José Raúl Mulino as president. Mulino has pledged to bring Panama closer to the United States. The U.S. signed a treaty with the newly independent state of Panama in 1903, allowing it to develop the long-desired canal through the isthmus, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and to pay Panama from the revenue generated by the canal.
In return, the U.S. would guarantee the canal’s neutrality and control the land on both sides of the waterway from the Panamanian government.
This area, known as the Panama Canal Zone, was administered by the United States, and American law applied to the residents of the region.
However, after decades of tensions over the canal, the Carter administration signed two treaties in 1977 with Panama’s military dictator, Omar Torrijos, to transfer control of the vital shipping passage to Panama. Under the terms of these treaties, Panama was to gain control of the canal by 1999, while the U.S. retained the right to defend the canal from any threat to its neutrality.
Analysts, however, do not believe that the treaty’s provisions would legally allow the United States to reclaim control of the canal.
