Former President Jimmy Carter’s legacy was marked by influential acts of foreign diplomacy. One such act — the handing over of the Panama Canal as a part of treaties signed nearly four decades ago — was perceived as more controversial.
Now, incoming President-elect Donald Trump, in the days ahead of his inauguration ceremony next month, is threatening to take back this American-made 50-mile-long waterway that connects the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans.
What’s the future of the Panama Canal after the passing of Carter — who died Sunday at age 100 — and the changing administration in the White House?
Trump on the Panama Canal
Trump briefly mentioned his qualms about the Panama Canal on Truth Social before addressing it at the AmericaFest last weekend in Phoenix, as the Deseret News previously reported.
“Has anyone ever heard of the Panama Canal?” Trump said. “Because we’re being ripped off at the Panama Canal like we’re being ripped off everywhere else.” The Republic of Panama operates the canal and levies charges on the vessels passing through.
“It was given to Panama and to the people of Panama, but it has provisions, you gotta treat us fairly and they haven’t treated us fairly,” Trump claimed, before accusing Panama of charging the U.S. high interest for using the waterway.
The Brilliance of the Seas cruise ship arrives at the gates of Miraflores Locks to become the first ship of the cruise season to pass through the Panama Canal in Panama City, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. | Matias Delacroix
“If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America in full, quickly and without question,” he said.
As Reuters reported, about 14,000 ships cross the waterway each year — that’s about 2.5% of the global sea trade.
The nearly $1.2 trillion canal, Trump said, could also fall into the hands of a foreign adversary, such as China.
The Panama Canal and Jimmy Carter’s legacy
Negotiations over the future of the canal began in the 1960s, but because of the changing leadership and political instability in Panama, all agreements fell apart. In 1975, diplomat Henry Kissinger, in a meeting with President Gerald Ford, expressed the delicacy of the situation, according to the State Department: “If these (canal) negotiations fail, we will be beaten to death in every international forum and there will be riots all over Latin America.”
A year later, during the 1976 presidential election against Gerald Ford, Carter promised to not surrender “practical control of the Panama Canal Zone any time in the foreseeable future.” But he changed his mind in the latter part of his presidency.
Passengers stand on the forward of the Brilliance of the Seas cruise ship as the vessel approaches the gates of Miraflores Locks to become the first cruiser of the season to pass through the Panama Canal in Panama City, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. | Matias Delacroix
The treaties faced resistance in the Senate, where Republican South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond, said signing the canal over “would contribute to the encirclement of the United States.”
The canal was turned over to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999. For Carter, the deal signified a new beginning of mutual respect and cooperation between the U.S. and Latin America, as he said in his speech in 1978. It also showed “the last remnant of alleged American colonialism is being removed” during a time when the world moved away from imperialism.
Panama President José Raúl Mulino in a post on X honored Carter’s relationship with the Latin American country.
“His time in the White House marked complex times, which were crucial for Panama in order to negotiate and agree” to the treaties that “achieved the transfer of the Canal to Panamanian hands and the full sovereignty of our country,” Mulino said before offering the Carter family condolences. “May his soul rest in peace.”
Mulino also responded to Trump’s threats, saying “every square meter” of the canal “belongs to Panama and will continue belonging to Panama,” in a post shared online
“We’ll see about that!” Trump wrote back.
Cargo ships wait to transit the Panama Canal in Gatun Lake in Colon, Panama, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. | Matias Delacroix
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Publish date : 2024-12-30 13:15:00
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