Though seemingly unintentional, President Donald Trump’s comments on the Panama Canal just happened to coincide almost perfectly with the 25th anniversary of the final turnover of the waterway from American to Panamanian control at the end of 1999. Trump’s threat to “demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, quickly and without question” elicited unsurprising resistance from Panama, whose economy is deeply dependent on it. Pro-U.S. Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino declared, “Every square meter of the Panama Canal and the surrounding area belongs to Panama and will continue belonging [to Panama].” Local demonstrators blocked the entrance to the U.S. Embassy on Christmas Eve, which, thankfully, had minimal impact, given then-President Joe Biden’s executive order providing federal employees the day off.
