A cargo ship leaves the Panama Canal in Panama City on June 17, 2024.
Martin Bernetti | APF | Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday accused Panama of charging extreme charges to be used of the Panama Canal and stated that if Panama didn’t handle the canal in an appropriate style, he would demand the U.S. ally hand it over.
In a night submit on Truth Social, Trump additionally warned he wouldn’t let the canal fall into the “flawed arms,” and he appeared to warn of potential Chinese affect on the passage, writing the canal shouldn’t be managed by China.
The submit was an exceedingly uncommon instance of a U.S. chief saying he might push a sovereign nation handy over territory. It additionally underlines an anticipated shift in U.S. diplomacy below Trump, who has not traditionally shied away from threatening allies and utilizing bellicose rhetoric when coping with counterparts.
The United States largely constructed the canal and administrated territory surrounding the passage for many years. But the U.S. authorities absolutely handed management of the canal to Panama in 1999 after a interval of joint administration.
“The charges being charged by Panama are ridiculous, particularly understanding the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the U.S.,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social submit.
“It was not given for the good thing about others, however merely as a token of cooperation with us and Panama. If the ideas, each ethical and authorized, of this magnanimous gesture of giving will not be adopted, then we’ll demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and with out query.”
The Panamanian embassy in Washington didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
