Panama Rejects Trump Threat to Take Back Canal’s Control

Making exceptions to current rules concerning the canal's operation in favor of the US would lead to “chaos”, he said.

In recent weeks, Trump has suggested several times that he may take back control of the canal, and as the future US president, he will not rule out using military options to do so.

“It might be that you will have to do something,” Trump said on Tuesday. “The Panama Canal is vital to our country.”

Trump has slammed the fees requested from US-flagged ships for transiting the canal that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as “ridiculous”.

Panama’s president, José Raúl Mulino, has declared unequivocally that the canal will remain in his country’s hands.

“The most sensible and efficient way to do this is to maintain the established rules,” he said, emphasizing that the canal will not give special treatment to US-flagged ships.

He said Trump's requests for exceptions are routinely rejected, because the process is clear and there must not be arbitrary variations.