PANAMA CITY/COPENHAGEN:
Panama's leader takes up feud with Trump "Every square metre of the Panama Canal and its adjacent zones is part of Panama, and it will continue to be," President Mulino said on Sunday in a video statement on X, the social platform.
Mulino's defence of Panamanian control over the key commercial waterway shows how Trump is already exerting global influence after he brought control over the canal into play over the weekend, decrying "ridiculous" transit fees for US vessels and alleged Chinese encroachment.
Trump's diplomatic hardball - just less than a month before his inauguration - represents a new front in his attempt to ratchet up pressure on trading partners. After Mulino's retort about continued Panamanian control, Trump said, "We'll see about that!" on his Truth Social platform.
China doesn't control the canal, though a Chinese company - a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd. - has two of the five ports adjacent to the canal, one on each side.
Under Panama's constitution, the canal is managed by the Panama Canal Authority, with some of the tolls going into the national treasury. The authority said last week that it had deposited almost $2.5 billion in the last fiscal year.
And China's influence has been growing in the region. In 2017, Panama severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan and declared that there was "only one China".
After raising the issue on his social platform, Trump claimed on Sunday that the canal was "falling into the wrong hands."
This story is from the December 24, 2024 edition of Hindustan Times Pune.
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This story is from the December 24, 2024 edition of Hindustan Times Pune.
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