In recent weeks, when he was President-elect Donald Trump publicly said that Panama should return the Panama Canal to the United States, and he would not rule out using military force to reclaim it. At his presidential Inauguration on Monday Trump doubled down on saying that his new administration was going to take back the canal.

The neutrality of the nearly 50-mile canal, through which nearly 15,000 ships transit each year, is enshrined in Panama’s Constitution and is enforced by the autonomous Panama Canal Authority.

The new Panamanian ambassador was given strict instructions as he prepared to meet then-President Donald Trump one day in 2019: Do not engage him in any substantive discussion of critical issues.

Marco Rubio will travel to Panama on his first trip abroad as secretary of State. The visit comes as Donald Trump looks to reclaim Panama's canal.

US President Donald Trump's threat to seize the Panama Canal over alleged undue Chinese influence may really be aimed at limiting Beijing's growing diplomatic and economic presence in Latin America, experts say.

For close to a month, President-elect Donald Trump has warned that the Panamanian government needs to reduce the shipping rates and fees placed on U.S.-based vessels going through the Panama Canal, unless it wants the U.

President Donald Trump cannot take the Panama Canal — at least not legally — as he would be violating every single treaty that the U.S. has come into with Panama since 1945, international law and national security experts told WLRN.

President Trump used his inauguration speech to double down on threats toward Panama. It revealed a much broader shift in vision for U.S. foreign policy. The post The World Isn't Ready for Trump's Expansionist Foreign Policy appeared first on World Politics Review.

One issue gaining interest concerns the Panama Canal, which has operated since its opening in 1914. France was an original sponsor in constructing a canal. A canal could pay immense dividends for trade and commerce in the region by drastically cutting distance and travel time from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean.

Panama has owned and administered the Panama Canal for nearly three decades. President Trump wants to change that to counter growing Chinese influence in Latin America.

They say they fought too hard to wrest it from the U.S. to now hand back the waterway, which is part of the nation’s identity.