Panama says won’t negotiate with US over canal, ahead of Rubio visit
Trump claims that China is effectively ‘operating’ the vital waterway and has threatened to ‘take it back’
Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino on Thursday ruled out negotiations with the United States over ownership of the Panama Canal as he prepares to host Donald Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Trump, in his inaugural address on January 20, alleged that China was effectively “operating” the waterway which the United States handed to the Central American nation in 1999.
“We didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama. And we’re taking it back,” Trump said.
But Mulino said opening negotiations on ownership of the canal “is impossible”.
“I cannot negotiate, much less open a process of negotiations on the canal. That [the matter] is sealed. The canal is Panama’s,” he said at his weekly press conference.
Panama, long a friend of the United States, has complained to the United Nations over Trump’s threat.
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Donald Trump goes light on China on Day 1, except where the Panama Canal is concerned
