President-elect Donald Trump threatened on Saturday that the US would regain control of the Panama Canal if it felt Panama did not respect the terms of a 1977 treaty on the waterway's legal status.
In two long Truth Social posts Saturday eveningTrump accused Panama of charging US ships exorbitant fees to transit the critical waterway. He also claimed that the treaties that allow Panama to take control of the canal also allow the US to take it back.
“If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not upheld, we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us in full and without question,” Trump wrote.
It is unclear what prompted Trump's diatribe over the channel. Although China has increased its presence in Latin America over the past two decades – and a Hong Kong-based company manages the two ports on either side of the canal – no Chinese commercial or government agency actually plays a direct role in managing the flow of ships through the critical waterway.
The canal is managed by an independent Panamanian government agency, the Panama Canal Authority, and China has made no public gestures in recent months to purchase the canal or expand its footprint in the country.
Meanwhile, Panama recently elected José Raúl Mulino as president. Mulino has promised to bring Panama closer to the United States.
The U.S. signed a treaty with the newly independent state of Panama in 1903, allowing the country to develop a long-desired canal through the isthmus that would connect the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and for Panama to pay for it from revenues from the canal. In return, the US would guarantee the canal's neutrality and land controlled by the Panamanian government on both sides of the waterway. This region, known as the Panama Canal Zone, was governed by the United States and American law applied to the residents of the region.
But after decades of tensions over the canal, the Carter administration signed two treaties with Panama's military dictator Omar Torrijos in 1977 to transfer control of the crucial shipping route to Panama. Under the terms of those treaties, Panama would gain control of the canal in 1999 and the US would retain the right to defend the canal against any threat to its neutrality.
However, analysts do not believe these provisions are in the treaty would allow the United States to legally regain control of the canal.
