Donald Trump positioned himself as both a peacemaker and a staunch defender of U.S. interests during his tumultuous return to the White House on Monday. He vowed to seize control of the Panama Canal while urging Russia to negotiate a deal on Ukraine.
In his initial hours back in office, Trump also took decisive actions to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization (WHO), reversed Cuba’s removal from the state sponsors of terrorism list, and — in a bold and symbolic move — declared he was renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
Trump, in his inaugural address, repeated his complaint that China was effectively “operating” the Panama Canal through its growing presence around the vital waterway, which the United States handed over at the end of 1999.
“We didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama. And we’re taking it back,” Trump said after taking the oath inside the US Capitol.
Trump has been raising pressure for weeks over the canal — through which 40 percent of US container traffic travels — and has repeatedly refused to rule out military force against Panama, historically friendly to Washington.
Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino swiftly denied that any other nation was interfering in the canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, saying his country operated it through a principle of neutrality.
“The canal is and will remain Panama’s,” Mulino said, calling for dialogue to address any issues.
At his inauguration, Trump complained that US merchant and Navy ships were “being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape or form.”
“The purpose of our deal and the spirit of our treaty has been totally violated,” he said.
Trump has also not ruled out force to seize Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark where Russia has been increasingly active as ice melts due to climate change.
The Panama Canal was built by the United States mostly with Afro-Caribbean labor and opened in 1914.
Former US president Jimmy Carter, who died last month, negotiated its return in 1977, saying he saw a moral responsibility to respect a less powerful but fully sovereign nation.
