The second Donald Trump presidency has major implications for nations all around the world, with the incoming President outlining some major international priorities for his second term.
Key among those ideas is his repeated insistence that he would consider reclaiming the Panama Canal, adding that he is willing to use military force to take the territory. After a period of quasi-colonial American rule over Central America, the Panama Canal was returned to the Panamanian government in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter.
Among Trump’s immediate pledges – taking the Panama Canal back under US control, after he accused Panama of charging too much to use it.
The canal, built by the United States in the early 1900s, provides a vital trade route for shipping between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.… pic.twitter.com/EcJ6ASpQv5
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) January 21, 2025
Any uncertainty about the Panama Canal, one of the world’s most important shipping routes, will spark a hunt for alternatives and one neighboring country may have found a solution. Honduras is eager to implement a huge infrastructure project known as a ‘dry canal’ to allow good to travel across Central America.
The system would not be a single track, but instead move good through an intricate network of highways and railways with central logistics stations.
This ‘Dry Corridor’ could connect La Union (El Salvador), Henecan (Honduras), and Corinto (Nicaragua) in the Pacific with the Caribbean ports of Puerto Cortes (Honduras) and Puerto Barrios (Guatemala). In an increasingly connected world, it could be a major asset for Honduras.
How much would a dry canal in Honduras cost?
The colossal project could have a transformative effect on the Honduran economy, potentially making it one of the main trading hubs in the region. However a project will require a significant financial investment to get it up and running.
An estimate for the project has put the cost at $18 billion. This would likely be prohibitively expensive for Honduras to shoulder on its own but the nation is reportedly looking for private investors and governmental partnerships to help make the plan a reality.
When this project was first floated a decade ago, China was cited as a possible partner in the venture. The Saudi Arabian government has also investigated the prospect of a similar infrastructure set-up in the region.
The search for an alternative route to pass goods between the Atlanta and Pacific Oceans is nothing new. The concept was first introduced in the early 1990s when a boom in global trade made these routes particularly profitable. In recent years Honduras has began to consider the prospect of creating its ‘own’ Panama Canal more serious. Trump’s comments will only serve to push that effort.
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Publish date : 2025-01-22 02:57:00
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