Trump threatens to try to take back the Panama Canal

On December 23, 2024By Littum

PHOENIX (AP) — Donald Trump suggested on Sunday that his new administration might try to regain control of The Panama Canal that the US “foolishly” relinquished to its Central American ally, claiming senders are being accused of “ridiculous” fees to pass through vital transport channel connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Panama’s conservative president José Raúl Mulino, who was elected in May on a pro-business platform, strongly rejected this view as a violation of his country’s sovereignty.

The Republican president-elect’s comments came during his first major rally since winning the White House on Nov. 5. He also reveled in his return to power as a large crowd of conservatives cheered along. It was a display of party unity at odds with one just completed budget fight on Capitol Hill, where some GOP lawmakers openly defied their manager’s demands.

Addressing supporters at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Arizona, Trump promised his “dream team” cabinet would deliver a booming economy, seal US borders and quickly resolve wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

“I can proudly proclaim that America’s golden age is upon us,” Trump said. “There’s a spirit we have now that we didn’t have a short time ago.”

President-elect Donald Trump speaks at AmericaFest on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

His appearance capped a four-day pep rally that drew more than 20,000 activists and projected an image of Republican unity despite last week’s turbulence in Washington, where Trump pulled the strings from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, while Congress worked to avoid a government shutdown heading into the holidays.

AP Correspondent Julie Walker reports that President-elect Donald Trump is rallying his base at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest 2024 in Phoenix.

House Republicans hammered out a bipartisan deal after Trump and Elon Musk, his billionaire ally, voiced their opposition on social media. Budget hawks ignored Trump’s demands that they raise the nation’s debt ceilingwhich would have saved some new rounds of the same fight after he took office on January 20, with Republicans in narrow control of the House and Senate. The final agreement did not address the issue and there was no shutdown.

In his remarks in Phoenix, Trump did not mention the congressional drama, although he did refer to Musk’s growing power. To suggestions that “President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon,” Trump made clear: “No, no. That’s not happening.”

“He’s not going to be president,” Trump said.

The president-elect opened the speech by saying that “we’re going to try to bring everybody together. We’re going to try. We’re really going to give it a shot.” Then he suggested that Democrats have “lost their confidence” and are “confused” after the election, but will eventually “come over to our side because we want them.”

On top of a list of grievances – some old, some new – was the Panama Canal.

“We are being ripped off at the Panama Canal,” he said, lamenting that his country “stupidly gave it away.”

President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak at AmericaFest on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

The United States built the canal in the early 1900s when it was looking for ways to facilitate the transit of commercial and military vessels between its coasts. Washington ceded control of the waterway to Panama on December 31, 1999 under a treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter.

The canal relies on reservoirs to operate its locks and was heavily impacted by the 2023 Central American drought, which forced it to significantly reduce the number of daily slots for crossing ships. With fewer ships using the canal each day, administrators also increased the fees charged to all shippers to reserve a slot.

As the weather returns to normal in the later months of this year, transit on the canal has returned to normal. But price increases are still expected for next year.

A cargo ship crosses the Agua Clara locks at the Panama Canal in Colon, Panama, September 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)

Mulino, Panama’s president, has been described as a conservative populist who aligns with Trump on many issues. Panama is a strong US ally and the canal is vital to its economy, generating about a fifth of the government’s annual revenue.

Still, Trump said that once his second term gets under way, “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. , in full, quickly and without question.”

“I’m not going to stand for it,” Trump said. “So to the officials of Panama, please be guided accordingly.”

He did not explain how that would be possible.

Shortly after Trump’s speech, Mulino released a video declaring that “every square meter of the canal belongs to Panama and will continue to belong” to his country.

Without mentioning Trump by name, Mulino addressed Trump’s complaints about rising fees for ships crossing the canal, saying they are set by experts who take into account operating costs and supply and demand factors.

“Tariffs are not set on a whim,” Mulino said. He noted that Panama has expanded the canal over the years to increase shipping traffic “on its own initiative,” adding that increases in shipping fees help pay for improvements.

“Panamanians can have different views on many issues,” Mulino said. “But when it comes to our canal and our sovereignty, we will all unite under our Panamanian flag.”

Trump then took to his social media to offer in response, “We’ll see about that!” He also posted a photo of an American flag planted in the Canal Zone under the phrase “Welcome to America’s Canal!”

Channel aside, Trump’s appearance at Turning Point’s annual gathering confirmed the growing influence the group and its founder, Charlie Kirkhas had in the conservative movement. Kirk’s group hired thousands of field organizers across the president’s battlegrounds, helping Trump make key gains among rare voters and other groups of people who have grown more Democratic in recent decades, including younger voters, black and Latino men .

“You had Turning Point’s grassroots armies,” Trump said. “It’s not my victory, it’s your victory.”

Trump also announced on Sunday several new members of his incoming administration, notably:

-Stephen Miran, who worked at the Treasury Department during Trump’s first term, to head the Council of Economic Advisers, an executive office tasked with providing objective economic advice to the president.

—Callista Gingrich to be US ambassador to Switzerland. Gingrich was the US ambassador to the Holy See during Trump’s first term. She is married to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Separately, Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt announced he was donating $1.1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund to supplement the $14 million he said he had already given to the superpolitical action committee Make America Great Again Inc. — making him to one of the newly elected president’s top. donors.

Pratt is chairman of Pratt Industries, which uses recycled paper and boxes as raw material in a process that produces new cardboard.

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This story has been corrected to reflect that Panamanian President Mulino was elected in May, not April.

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Weissert reported from West Palm Beach, Florida. Associated Press writer Manuel Rueda in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.