MEXICO CITY — President Trump said Monday that the United States would regain control of the Panama Canal, the strategic U.S.-built waterway that Washington handed over to the Panamanian government more than a quarter century ago.
“We gave it to Panama and we’re taking it back,” Trump said in his inaugural address.
The president accused the Panamanian government of ignoring U.S. interests, overcharging U.S. ships, including U.S. Navy vessels, and effectively handing over the vital maritime passage between the Pacific and Caribbean Oceans to China.
“China runs the Panama Canal and we didn’t give it to China,” Trump accused.
In response to Trump, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino rejected the idea that his country should give up control of the canal, which is among the world's most iconic maritime passages and a major source of national pride and revenue for the Central American nation.
“The canal is and will remain under Panamanian control,” Mulino said in a statement, repeating his comments last month after Trump floated the idea of taking back control of the canal.
And Mulino rejected Trump's accusation that China was running the canal and denied that any country other than Panama was directing the operations. “No nation in the world interferes in our administration,” said Mulino, who said dialogue was the appropriate way to resolve any disputes. A Hong Kong-based consortium controls two ports at either end of the canal.
Trump gave no details on how the United States planned to proceed to restore control of territories and infrastructure that are part of the sovereign Panamanian country – areas that the country's leadership has vowed not to relinquish.
“We were treated very badly by this stupid gift that should never have been given, and Panama’s promise to us was broken,” Trump said. “The purpose of our deal and the spirit of our contract have been completely violated.”
The United States handed control of the canal to Panama in December 1999, after a period of shared management that followed the 1977 U.S.-Panamanian agreements. Latin America hailed the move as a historic and positive step in the history of the Americas.
The 51-mile-long canal saves ships the much longer journey around Cape Horn at the tip of South America.
Considered one of the world's most monumental engineering feats, the canal opened in 1914 after years of construction that cleared miles of malarial jungles, blasted mountains and built complex locks across the Isthmus of Panama. Thousands of workers, many from Caribbean countries, died on the massive canal project.