President Trump is indicating the United States should take back control of the Panama Canal. Why would Trump do this? The Panama Canal is of vital interest to the United States as it plays a critical role in America’s Economy and National Security. The French attempted to build the Panama Canal beginning excavation in 1880, but after nine years and 20,000 deaths due to tropical diseases, the project went bankrupt. The United States took on the project in 1903 after negotiating with the newly independent Panama that Panama provide a 10-mile-wide strip of land for the United States to build the Panama Canal for a one-time payment of $10 million and an annual annuity of $250,000. The United States also agreed to guarantee the independence of Panama. The 51-mile-long Panama Canal joined the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans when it opened in 1914. It shortened the journey by 22 days for ships that previously had to sail around the southern tip of South America. The Panama Canal allows for ships to travel from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans in 10 hours. The majority of the 517 million tons (2021) of shipping going through the Panama Canal is U.S. shipping accounting for 74% of all traffic. The United States fully controlled the Panama Canal from 1914 until 1979. In 1979, the Panama Canal Commission, a joint agency of the United States and the Republic of Panama, managed control of the canal until December 31, 1999 when Panama assumed full control of the Panama Canal. President Jimmy Carter, in a grave error, signed the Carter-Torrijos Treaty of 1977 giving the Panama Canal to Panama after being convinced by a communist in his administration, Robert Pastor, that United States capitalism was the culprit and not the solution to pervasive poverty in Latin America. China’s current management of ports at both ends of the Panama Canal is stirring alarms for the United States over ambitions seen as endangering the neutrality of the Panama Canal. The increase of China’s control over transshipment cargo operations is a point of contention. There is one treaty still in effect, the Neutrality Treaty between Panama and the United States, which guarantees the neutrality of the Panama Canal. The treaty maintains that Panama operates the Panama Canal and the United States maintains the right to intervene militarily in defense of any threat to the neutrality of the Panama Canal. Trump wants to maintain the secure and efficient running of the Panama Canal and does not want it to come under the influence of other countries like China who would not have U.S. interests in mind. Are Trump’s statements regarding the Panama Call all bluster? I don’t think so. It sounds like a good move – Let it be known that the U.S. is not playing when it comes to the U.S.’s economy and security. The Americas are of vital interest to the U.S. and other countries have been warned to back off. Trump is invoking an update to the Monroe Doctrine which in 1823 was a policy framework addressing America’s security and commercial interests in the Western Hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine addressed how the United States would conduct foreign relations with nations in Central and South America while curbing European ambitions in the Western Hemisphere. The United States’ Republican led Senate is now looking into Panama’s alleged violations (excessive fees and foreign influence) of the Panama Canal treaties.
The Monroe Doctrine
President Trump Asserts, Boldly, The Importance of the Panama Canal to American Vital National Interests
What is the Panama Canal and why has Trump threatened to take it over?
We Built it; China Controls it; Trump Will Take it Back!
The Communist Who Convinced Jimmy Carter to Give Away the Panama Canal
The US is right to be concerned about China’s influence over the Panama Canal
The Panama Canal Treaties Were ‘Mush From the Wimp’
GOP-Controlled Senate Launches Official Hearing into Panama’s Canal Treaty Breach
Siberhusk
