Achievement to Trump in front of the Chinese: managed to stop their presence in Panama Canal

The new US President Donald Trump fulfilled his first-time battle against China, after a meeting of US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, with Panama President, Jose Raul to us, led the latter to declare that his country would retire from the belt and road program, in the shadow of American concern from the presence Chinese in Panama Canal.

The canal is a critical path to the US and the China, due to the connection between the Far East and the eastern coast of the United States, and to the continent of America in general, and later to Europe. This lane is crossed by about 5% of the global naval movement, and saves 57 days of sailing between the quiet ocean and Atlantic.

Therefore, it is not surprising that according to the canal administration, approximately 75% of the goods passed in 2024 came from the United States, and about 21% of China. Of the rule of the American container movement, about 40% pass through Panama. Panama yields about $ 5 billion a year, which is based on IDB Invest to 7.7% of Fanamic GDP and about 15.9% of exports.

In the shadow, Trump is furious due to two issues. On the one hand, the US is the one who built the canal, launched it in 1914-and passed its control to Panama only in 1999. Trump’s position is that the transference of the canal, which is about 82 km to Fanama sovereignty, due to a treaty on which the president signed Jimmy Carter in 1977, was a “stupid” step.

Beijing then recognized an opportunity, and today Chinese government -owned companies are investing in infrastructure around the canal, and a Hong Kong company, CK Hatchison, operates two ants in the canal. Although these are two out of five, each of the ports is at the other end of the canal. As a general rule, the Atchison is one of the world’s strongest port operators, with 53 ants in 24 countries, including Western, such as Britain and Canada.

Chinese companies build a bridge

The Atchism is not the operator of the canal, but the Panama Canal Administration, which belongs to the Panama City administration. At the same time, Beijing claims that she does not intend to take over the canal, but Washington does not soothe. Among other things, because Americans recognize that Chinese government companies, CCCC
And Check, now build a bridge over the canal.

In the seventh speech, Trump noted Panama six times, more than any other country. Now, in an attempt to stop Chinese takeover, Rubio’s first visit outside the US was in Panama City. , In front of us, he told Robio that ownership of the canal is not on the table.

Importance of Fanatic Declaration

Significant for Washington is the statement of Panama President because his state did not date its participation in the Chinese and Chinese Road, and even run out of it even before the end of the current contract in 2026. As part of the belt and road, China invests huge sums in taking over strategic infrastructure, assets and territories in different countries. About six years ago, the project was estimated at $ 8 trillion. This allows China to benefit in imports, when in 2023 there was a 46.8% increase in Chinese imports of commodities from the company countries in the belt and the road, up to a total of 8.74 trillion Yuan. The policy effects of the programs can be learned from Panama, who joined the belt and the road in 2017, and already in that year she cut off her relationship with Taiwan.

Now, Panama may become a particularly negative gospel to China, because it is the first country in Latin America to decide not to extend – and even try to shorten – its participation in the belt and road program. “The meeting was respectable and cordial,” he said in front of us, following his conversation with Rubio, noting that he did not feel a threat to the treaty that Carter signed in 1977. As part of the same document, the US has left the possibility to intervene military, in case the canal operates for an internal crisis or foreign force. “B have to take the canal back.

It is likely that an American military takeover of the Panama Canal will not occur soon, but Rubio has already achieved a significant military commitment by Panama City. In front of us, he pledged to allow American war ships in the canal, in a step that is a message to Beijing, because such beyond is critical in case the US decides to transfer extensive Navy forces to the Pacific Okian – against the Chinese.

Geopolitan jolt occurs in tandem with global warming implications. In contrast to the Suez Canal, for example, the Panama has significant height gaps, and therefore, if no sediments in some areas do not drop, it drastically reduces the ability to move the ships. For example, in Lake Gaton, located in the center of the canal, there was a level of level from about 26.5 meters in January 2023 to 24.6 meters in January 2024. Cross the Panama Canal, to 9,936 transitions.

That’s how the queue is attacked

In front of us, he found a creative way to reach annual peak revenue in the canal, despite drought constraints, which caused most of the crossings of the crossings was lower than 2023. In both entrances to the canal, queues accumulate. A routine transition in the canal is about $ 400,000 per ship, although the tariff is very diverse and subject to the type of ship, its size, the volume of honor and the classification. What the Panama Canal has chosen to do with the aim of increasing revenue are public sales for the indirect queues. According to the Indian “Aconomy Times,” in one case, an additional $ 2.4 million was paid for the transition fees.

Shipping companies prefer to respond to the Fanatic method, because the other options are to wait for long queues, which may take about a week, or bypass the continent, as they would have done before the canal is set up – and add 57 days. The consequences can be learned from the effects of the Houthis in the Red Sea. There ships between the Far East and Europe are forced to bypass the good hopes, and add about 13,000 km to the path.

From this, you can speculate on how much a explosion between the US and Panama, or at the very least, the state of the water level, which is influenced by global warming and the minority of sediment, may shake the supply chains in the world. Customers from all over the world consume American -made products, some of which are based on raw materials from the Far East.

The price of those raw materials, and of course the finished product, is affected by the shipping prices. As fewer ships will be allowed to move in the Panama Canal, the shipping giants that affect each consumer in the world will cost tariffs. This may sound as far -fetched, but developments in the Suez Canal have made it clear how realistic it may be.