Panama president shoots down Donald Trump's threat to take control of Panama Canal, ‘Every square meter of…’
“The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable," Panama President José Raúl Mulino said.
Panama’s president rejected Donald Trump’s threat that the US would call on the Central American country to cede control of the Panama Canal. The president-elect said this would be done if “exorbitant” fees are continued to be charged to use the shipping channel.
“I want to express precisely that every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent area belong to Panama, and will continue to,” Panama President José Raúl Mulino posted on social X. “The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable. Every Panamanian, here or anywhere in the world, carries it in their heart, and it is part of our history of struggle and irreversible conquest.”
‘We’re being ripped off at the Panama Canal’
Trump first made the claim on Saturday, December 21, and then addressed the topic at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest the next day again. “We’re being ripped off at the Panama Canal like we’re being ripped off everywhere else,” he told the crowd in Arizona.
“If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America, in full, quickly and without question,” Trump continued.
“I’m not going to stand for it,” the Republican added. “So to the officials of Panama, please be guided accordingly.”
Trump also indicated that he would buy Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
Mulino said on Sunday that rates that are established for shippers using the canal are not established on whim. “They are and will be established, publicly and in an open audience, considering market conditions, international conditions, operating costs and the maintenance and modernization needs of the interoceanic waterway,” he said.
Mulino added, “We Panamanians may think differently in many aspects, but when it comes to our Canal and our sovereignty, we all unite under a single flag, that of Panama.”
Following Mulino issuing the statement and vowing to keep the canal under Panamanian direction, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “We’ll see about that!”