Written by Will Weissert, Juan Zamorano, and Gary Fields
PANAMA CITY (AP) – Teddy Roosevelt once declared the Panama Canal to be “one of the great achievements that the people of this republic look back on with the greatest pride.” More than a century later, Donald Trump is threatening to take back the waterway for that same republic.
The president-elect has criticized the increase in fees Panama charges to use the waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. He said if the situation does not change after he takes office next month, “we will demand that the Panama Canal be completely, promptly and without question returned to the United States.”
President Trump has long threatened allies with punitive measures in hopes of winning concessions. However, experts from both countries are clear. Without war with Panama, President Trump cannot reassert control of the canal, which the United States agreed to cede in the 1970s.
Here’s how we got here.
What is a canal?
It is a 51-mile (82-kilometer) man-made waterway that uses a series of locks and reservoirs to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the center of Panama. This eliminates the need for ships to travel an additional approximately 7,000 miles (more than 11,000 kilometers) to sail around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America.
The U.S. International Trade Administration says the canal will save U.S. companies “considerable time and fuel costs” and allow for faster delivery of goods, which will help “time-sensitive cargo, perishable goods, This is particularly important for industries with in-time supply chains.” ”
Who built it?
Efforts to build a canal in Panama began in 1880, led by Ferdinand de Lesseps, who built Egypt’s Suez Canal, but only progressed for just over nine years before going bankrupt.
Malaria, yellow fever, and other tropical diseases were estimated to have devastated workers who were already toiling in the jungle’s particularly dangerous terrain and harsh working conditions, ultimately claiming more than 20,000 lives. be.
Panama was then a state of Colombia, but Colombia refused to ratify the subsequent 1901 treaty authorizing U.S. interests to build the canal. President Roosevelt responded by sending U.S. warships to Panama’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The United States also pre-drafted a constitution that would be ready after Panama’s independence, giving the U.S. military “the right to intervene in any part of Panama to re-establish security and constitutional order.”
Partly because Colombian troops were unable to cross the harsh jungle, Panama declared independence virtually bloodlessly within hours in November 1903. A treaty was immediately signed allowing a U.S.-led team to begin construction.
According to one study, about 5,600 workers later died during the U.S.-led construction project.
Why doesn’t the US manage the canal anymore?
The waterway opened in 1914, but soon some Panamanians began to question the legitimacy of U.S. management, leading to what is known domestically as a “generational struggle” to take over the waterway. Ta.
The United States waived its right to intervene in Panama in the 1930s. By the 1970s, administrative costs had soared that Washington spent years negotiating with Panama to transfer control of the waterway.
The Carter administration worked with the Omar Torrijos administration. Ultimately, both countries decided that their best chance was to submit two treaties, the Perpetual Neutrality Treaty and the Panama Canal Treaty, to the U.S. Senate for ratification.
The first would continue in perpetuity and give the United States the right to act to ensure the opening and security of the canal. The second stated that the United States would hand over the canal to Panama on December 31, 1999, at which point it was called off.
Both were signed in 1977 and ratified the following year. The agreement remained in place after 1989, when President George H.W. Bush invaded Panama to remove Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega.
In the late 1970s, as the Treaty of Handover was being debated and ratified, public opinion polls found that about half of Americans opposed the decision to transfer control of the canal to Panama. But by the time ownership actually changed in 1999, public opinion had shifted, with about half of Americans now in favor.
What has happened since then?
Management of the canal became more efficient under Panama than during the U.S. era, with traffic increasing by 17 percent between fiscal years 1999 and 2004. Panama voters approved a referendum in 2006 that approved a major expansion of the canal to accommodate larger, modern cargo ships. The expansion took until 2016 and cost more than $5.2 billion.
“Every square meter of the canal belongs to Panama and always will,” Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino said in a video on Sunday. He added that while the people are divided on some important issues, “when it comes to the canal and sovereignty, we are all united under the Panamanian flag.”
Shipping prices are rising after last year’s drought affected the canal’s locks, forcing Panama to drastically reduce shipping traffic through the canal and raise fees to use the canal. The rains have mostly returned, but Panama says it may need to raise rates in the future as it works on improvements to meet modern transportation needs.
Mulino said canal fees “are not set on a whim.”
Jorge Luis Quijano, the waterway’s manager from 2014 to 2019, said all canal users will be charged the same fee, although it will vary depending on the size of the vessel and other factors.
“We can accept that canal customers may complain about price increases,” Quijano said. “But that doesn’t give them any reason to consider taking it back.”
Why did President Trump raise this issue?
The president-elect said the United States has been “deceived” and “I’m not going to stand for it.”
“It’s given to Panama and the Panamanian people, but it has a clause and they have to treat us fairly. And they’re not treating us fairly,” President Trump said in 1977. He said the 2018 treaty “foolishly” gave up the canal.
The neutrality treaty gives the United States the right to act if military conflict threatens the canal’s operations, but it does not reassert control.
“There is no clause in the neutrality agreement that would allow us to take back the canal,” Quijano said. “Legally, under normal circumstances, there is no way to recover previously occupied territory.”
Meanwhile, President Trump has not said how he will use his threat.
“Absent a second U.S. invasion of Panama, there is virtually no room for regaining control of the Panama Canal,” said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. Ta.
Gedan said Trump’s stance is particularly puzzling given that Mulino is a pro-business conservative who “has made a number of other overtures to demonstrate his preference for a special relationship with the United States.” He said that. He also pointed out that Panama’s growing proximity to China in recent years means the United States has strategic reasons to maintain cordial relations with Central American countries.
Panama is also a U.S. partner in stopping illegal immigration from South America, perhaps President Trump’s biggest policy priority.
“If you’re going to pick a fight with Panama over an issue, you can’t find a worse issue than the canal,” Guedan said.
Weissert reported from West Palm Beach, Florida, and Fields reported from Washington state. Amelia Thomson-Deveaux contributed to this report from Washington.
First Published: December 23, 2024 at 1:30pm PST
