The president of Panama is pushing back on rhetoric from President-elect Donald Trump after days of social media posts threatening to take back control of the Panama Canal.
Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino spoke at a press conference Thursday in which he dismissed various assertions made by the president-elect about the canal, including the accusation that China is exerting influence over its traffic.
“There is absolutely no Chinese interference or involvement in anything that has to do with the Panama Canal,” said Mulino. “There are no Chinese at the canal, no Chinese nor any other world power at the canal.”
This week, Trump wished a Merry Christmas to the “wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal.”
It was the latest in a long series of criticisms made by Trump about the crucial maritime passage, which he believes is “ripping off” the United States with high shipping rates.
“There is no discrimination against any warship, whether it be from the US or another country,” Mulino said at the Thursday press conference. “The canal is Panamanian and belongs to Panamanians, and there is no possibility of opening any kind of conversation around that reality.”
Trump announced Wednesday that he is appointing Miami-Dade Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera as the U.S. ambassador to Panama.
In the announcement, the president-elect called Panama a “country that is ripping us off on the Panama Canal, far beyond their wildest dreams.”
He has even floated the idea of demanding “the Panama Canal be returned to [the U.S.], in full, quickly and without question” if shipping rates are not lowered.
The Panama Canal was operated entirely by the U.S. government until 1977. Negotiations and treaty stipulations slowly ceded control to the Panamanian government until 1999, when full control was turned over.
Trump’s feud with Panamanian leaders is part of a larger trend within his foreign policy rhetoric.
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In recent weeks, the president-elect has threatened to buy Greenland from the Kingdom of Denmark and negotiate a deal to make Canada the “51st state.”
These expansionist machinations have drawn criticism from Canadian leaders, and Greenland’s military has bolstered security in a token gesture of defiance.
