At the very end, it sounds like Trump wants to take over Panama to get the Panama Canal back. It's because we're being treated so unfairly.
Any loss of life is unacceptable, but the massive loss of life occurred during the earlier French attempt to build their version of the Panama Canal in the 1880s. Even involving Gustav Eiffel to build the locks didn't help. 22,000 people died in the French attempt to build a canal. Those weren't French nationals, they were from Barbados and other Caribbean countries.
When the United States built its canal between 1903 and 1913, 5,855 people lost their lives. But it wasn't Americans, it was again, workers from surrounding countries. Americans were the engineers, not the laborers. So Trump is totally off on saying 38,000 American men died during the canal construction by the United States.
Panama didn't even become an independent country until 1903, when Panamanians revolted, with U.S. help, from Columbia. The Panama Canal Zone was the canal and a width of 5 miles on each side of the canal. The U.S. purchased the land from private and public owners. The land was returned to Panama along with the canal in 1999.
The myth of the one dollar sale by Jimmy Carter of the Canal is actually worse. We gave them $295 million in loans that they had to pay back. $50 million we gave to them for building defense for the canal against attackers. And there was another $345 million dollars in loans and loan guarantees. So yes, we paid to turn the canal over to Panama. We didn't even make that $1.
The treaty Jimmy Carter put forth took 20 years to take effect. We finally turned over the canal in 1999.
Over the years of U.S. Operation of the Canal there were many attempts by the Panamanians to clarify the meanings of the terms in the first treaty.
"These misinterpretations revolved around matters such as the sovereignty issue, the 'in perpetuity' clause, flying the Panamanian Flag in the zone, the importing of third-party goods into the zone, exclusion of Panamanian goods and services from the zone markets, and discrimination of Panamanians working in the zone." Actual adjustments to the treaty were made in 1936, 1942 and 1955.
There were demonstrations and riots in 1959 and 1964 against the U.S. presence in the Panama Canal Zone over the same items mentioned above and more. The 3 days of riots and approximately 20 people killed in 1964, got the attention of President Lyndon Johnson. On December 18, 1964, he announced plans for a new sea level canal and would negotiate a new treaty to replace the one from 1903. Things didn't happen that way and relations were tense, with occasional meaningless concessions from the U.S., until Jimmy Carter negotiated the transfer of the Canal and the Canal Zone back to Panama. Even then, things were complicated for another 20 years.
The complete story of 1959 to 1973, including unclassified records is here.
An assessment of what the situation was like 1999 is here.
There is still one treaty in effect. The Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal. It "guarantees permanent neutrality of the Canal with fair access for all nations with nondiscriminatory tolls. Only Panama may operate the canal or maintain military installations in Panamanian territory. The U.S., however, reserved the right to exert military force in the defense of the Panama Canal against any threat to its neutrality."
The Chinese have positioned themselves at both ends of the Panama canal with port concessions. The Chinese are trying to do this all over the world. Taking over ports of entry in other countries. They've tried to do this in the U.S, but fortunately, President Biden warned Congress about the threat.
In 2016, China based Landbridge Group acquired control of Margarita Island, Panama's largest port on the Atlantic side in the Cólon Free Trade Zone, the largest free trade zone in the western hemisphere.
The Margarita Island port was designed and constructed by a Chinese company to handle megaships.
China also controls Balboa on the Pacific side. The Chinese threat that Trump mentions is all too real.
Evan Ellis, a researcher at the U.S. Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute, said, "We are talking about companies that have links with the People's Liberation Army of China. In an eventual conflict, Beijing could close the Panama Canal if it wanted to."
A Chinese company has a contract to build a fourth bridge over the Panama Canal. The contract is for $1.3 billion. The Chinese will spend money for influence. The point isn't to make a profit, it's to control.
The United States doesn't get charged any more for going through the Panama Canal than anyone else. But the charges have increased due to the lack of water needed to operate the locks. Fewer ships per day. There are extra charges for moving ahead of the line. The fact that Trump is saying that the United States, the Navy and corporations are getting charged higher than other ship transits is something that's going to get stuck in his head. I suppose it's something that he put corporations at the end of the list of grievances.
The U.S. is 72% the traffic going through the canal.
Trump also forgets that Panama built a third set of locks that opened in 2016 that could handle much larger ships. "These dimensions allow for an estimated 79% of all cargo-carrying vessels to transit the canal, up from 45%."
The rip off that Trump describes is difficult to trace where he's coming from. I guess he figures the Panama should be paying us because we originally built the canal for them. Maybe it's because the rates have gone up for everyone due to reduced transits caused by lack of rain.
The thing is, we made a profit during the years that the United States owned the Panama Canal. We made back every penny and a lot more than we spent on it. Nobody ripped us off.
Teddy Roosevelt was President for much of the canal's construction, but the last 4 years was finished up under William Howard Taft.
Trump starts off with saying that the Panama Canal is a vital national asset. He's talking like we still own it. He says the canal needs to be secure. When he implies that Panama isn't doing enough, he's saying we need to take it over.
I missed the first time around that he said building the canal cost the U.S. lives and treasure. What exactly is the treasure that we lost? Is he talking about something Indiana Jones missed? That statement I can't explain the source.
The fact that Trump says the ripoff will stop, is what we should be concerned about. He apparently thinks we should get a discount for having built a canal in the first place.
Everything he says points to bad news for relations between the US and Panama. Between Panama and China. Between the US and China.
I can't believe I missed his second post:
Trump is nothing if not a transactional creature. He thinks we're getting a bad deal, like NATO not paying its dues, or that other countries pay tariffs. He now has this thought in his head that is not going to go away.
In the second post, Trump warns the government of Panama that if he is still displeased, he will demand the return of the Panama Canal. Does that mean we would pay them for the third set of locks that they built without our help? He probably has never talked to anyone in the Panamanian government. Is he going to continue to rule by Truth Social posts like he did on Twitter in his first four years? Is it wise to threaten another country by a social media post?
There's only one country that fits the bill of the "wrong hands," at the present. That's China. I suppose the question needs to be asked why didn't the United States buy or build the ports the Chinese have? The answer is that the Chinese companies have the backing of their government to make the moves. Congress could have said that using government financing would have been a boondoggle.
Trump just put out another Truth Social post that said: "My administration will live by the motto: Promises Made, Promises KEPT," he said in Phoenix, AZ. I guess he forgot what he said during the campaign about grocery prices. What does intend to do about Panama and China?
So we have a new problem that is Donald Trump. The man could want to invade Panama to address his grievances. He wants canal transit at a discount. He thinks that he's Teddy Roosevelt. He thinks Jimmy Carter was a bad businessman. Panama is in danger from China.
The Commander-In-Chief may do something really stupid. Whoever becomes his Cabinet, they won't cross him. Can we depend on Congress to stop him?
Unbelievably, he went farther:
It's like he's throwing down the gauntlet over the internet. He just had to respond to the post somebody sent him that had a quote by the President of Panama from his written statement.
This is the full statement by the President of Panama. If you can't read the statement, here's the link to the letter on his X account. Spanish on the left, English on the right.
