Trump threatens to try to take back the Panama Canal. Panama’s president balks at the suggestion

Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — Donald Trump is suggesting that his new administration could try to regain control of the Panama Canal. He says the United States “foolishly” ceded it to its Central American ally. And he contends that shippers are being charged “ridiculous” fees to pass through the vital transportation channel linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Trump didn’t explain how such a takeover would be possible, given that the U.S. relinquished control of the canal to Panama in 1999 under a treaty signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Panama President José Raúl Mulino roundly rejected that notion as an afront to his country’s sovereignty.