Mexican President backs Panama’s leader amid Trump’s threats to retake Panama Canal
MEXICO CITY – Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum expressed support for Panama’s government on Monday after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened to reassert U.S. control over the Panama Canal on Sunday.
“Indeed, the Panama Canal belongs to the Panamanians,” Sheinbaum said, speaking in her regular morning press conference.
Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino reaffirmed his country’s sovereignty over the Panama Canal after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened to retake it.
“Every square meter of the Panama Canal and the surrounding area belongs to Panama and will continue belonging so,” Mulino said in a recorded statement released on X, adding that Panama’s sovereignty and independence are non-negotiable.
Trump then responded to Mulino: “We’ll see about that!”
The U.S. President-elect threatened to reassert U.S. control over the Panama Canal on Sunday, accusing Panama of charging excessive rates to use the Central American passage.
“Has anyone ever heard of the Panama Canal?” Trump said at AmericaFest, an annual event organised by Turning Point, an allied conservative group. “Because we’re being ripped off at the Panama Canal like we’re being ripped off everywhere else.”
Trump’s comments were an exceedingly rare example of a U.S. leader saying he could push a sovereign country to hand over territory. They also underlined an expected shift in U.S. diplomacy under Trump, who has not historically shied away from threatening allies and using bellicose rhetoric when dealing with counterparts.
“It was given to Panama and the people of Panama, but it has provisions,” Trump said of the canal, which was once owned by the United States but was handed over to Panama decades ago.
It is not clear how Trump would seek to regain control over the canal, and he would have no recourse under international law if he decided to make a play for the passage. Besides, this is not the first time Trump has openly considered territorial expansion.
The waterway, which allows up to 14,000 ships to cross per year, accounts for 2.5% of global seaborne trade and is critical to U.S. imports of autos and commercial goods by container ships from Asia, and for U.S. exports of commodities, including liquefied natural gas.
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’s neutrality. The canal is currently administered by the Panama Canal Authority.
