Trump’s Panama Canal Claim

Expert Interviews —The Panama Canal has come squarely into the national security conversation. That’s thanks to a series of comments from President-elect Donald Trump and his inauguration speech on Monday that called the canal’s status an issue needing urgent attention.

“We have been treated very badly by this foolish gift that should never have been made,” Trump said at his inauguration ceremony Monday, referencing the 1977 Panama Canal Treaty in which the United States ceded ownership of the canal to Panama. “Panama’s promise to us is broken,” Trump said, adding, “We will take it back,” adding, “We emphasized the point with our promise to restore American sovereignty over our waterways.”