Panama firmly dismissed comments made by U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, in which he vowed to “reclaim” the Panama Canal, asserting that the waterway remains under Panamanian control.
“I completely reject the words of President Donald Trump,” Panamanian President Jose Raul Molino stated on social media. “The canal is Panamanian and will remain so.”
Molino also refuted Trump’s claim that China has influence over the canal’s operations. “No country in the world has any presence or interference,” Molino emphasized.
The Panama Canal, a vital global trade route, was constructed by the United States and inaugurated in 1914. Ownership was transferred to Panama on December 31, 1999, following treaties brokered in the 1970s by then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos.
