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Updated 22:21 IST, February 3rd 2025

Will Take Back Panama or Something Big Will Happen: Donald Trump's Another Threat

Donald Trump has said that China is running the Panama Canal that was not given to them but given to Panama foolishly, but they violated the agreement.

Reported by: Digital Desk
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US President Donald Trump | Image: AP

Washington: Already in war over tariffs with many countries, US President Donald Trump has once again vowed to take control of Panama Canal and threatened if this doesn't happen then something very powerful is going to take place. Trump has said there is a Chinese influence in Panama Canal but it was not given to them adding they (US) are going to take it back.

“China is running the Panama Canal that was not given to them but given to Panama foolishly, but they violated the agreement and we are going to take it back or something very powerful is going to happen,” Donald Trump said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Trump's Panama warning   

Building upon President Trump's remarks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio brought a warning to Panamanian leader Jose Raul Mulino on Sunday: Immediately reduce what President Donald Trump says is Chinese influence over the Panama Canal area or face potential retaliation from the United States.

Rubio, travelling to the Central American country and touring the Panama Canal on his first foreign trip as top US diplomat, held face-to-face talks with Mulino, who has resisted pressure from the new US government over management of a waterway that is vital to global trade.

Mulino told reporters after the meeting that Rubio made “no real threat of retaking the canal or the use of force.”

Speaking on behalf of Trump, who has demanded that the canal be returned to US control, Rubio told Mulino that Trump believed that China's presence in the canal area may violate a treaty that led the United States to turn the waterway over to Panama in 1999. That treaty calls for the permanent neutrality of the American-built canal.

“Secretary Rubio made clear that this status quo is unacceptable and that absent immediate changes, it would require the United States to take measures necessary to protect its rights under the treaty,” the State Department said in a summary of the meeting.

The statement was unusually blunt in diplomatic terms, but in keeping with the tenor and tone Trump has set for foreign policy.

Trump continues to press Washington's neighbours, allies 

Trump has been increasing pressure on Washington's neighbours and allies, including the canal demand and announcing Saturday that he was imposing major tariffs on Canada and Mexico. That launched a trade war by prompting retaliation from those close allies.

Mulino, meanwhile, called his talks with Rubio “respectful” and “positive” and said he did not “feel like there's a real threat against the treaty and its validity."

Panama will not renew agreement with China's Belt and Road initiative 

The president did say Panama would not be renewing its agreement with China's Belt and Road Initiative when it expires.

Panama joined the initiative, which promotes and funds infrastructure and development projects that critics say leave poor member countries heavily indebted to China, after dropping diplomatic recognition of Taiwan and recognising Beijing.

Rubio later toured the canal at sunset with its administrator, Ricaurte Vásquez, who has said the waterway will remain in Panama's hands and open to all countries. Rubio crossed the lock and visited the control tower, looking down over the water below, where a red tanker was passing through.

Earlier, about 200 people marched in the capital, carrying Panamanian flags and shouting “Marco Rubio out of Panama,” “Long live national sovereignty” and “One territory, one flag” while the meeting was going on. Some burned a banner with images of Trump and Rubio after being stopped short of the presidential palace by riot police.

Rubio also pressed Trump's top focus - curbing illegal immigration - telling Panama's president that it was important to collaborate on the work and thanked him for taking back migrants. Rubio's trip, however, comes as a US foreign aid funding freeze and stop-work orders have shut down US-funded programs targeting illegal migration and crime in Central American countries.

With inputs from PTI

Published 22:21 IST, February 3rd 2025