Donald Trump wants to take back the channel

The US President-elect Donald Trump hat Panama because of his point of view at high fees threatened to take back the waterway for the use of the Panama Canal. The fees demanded were “ridiculous”, especially since the USA had shown “extraordinary generosity” to Panama, Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday evening – and also warned: He would not allow the canal to fall into the “wrong hands”, he played up possible influence of China.

The canal was not handed over for the benefit of others, Trump wrote in his short message service, but “merely as a sign of cooperation between us and Panama.” And: “If the moral and legal principles of this generous gesture are not respected, we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us in full and without ifs and buts.”

The United States had largely built the canal and administered the surrounding area for decades. In 1999, the U.S. government handed over control of the canal entirely to Panama after a period of shared management.