Panama was shocked by the way President Donald Trump seriously rattled their cage. Over the weekend he posted a slew of social media announcements and backed them up with live remarks at his TPAC speech. The third-world crap-hole country is in breach of contract. If they don’t get with the program, by coming across with better rates for American shipping, he’s going to grab our canal back.
Panama canal control
It was the United States who built the Panama Canal. It wasn’t easy and most of the workers either died, caught malaria or both. The equatorial nation gave us “the right to build the canal and control the land on either side in 1904.”
In 1977, Democrat Jimmy Carter gave that control back to them as a present. Besides the gas rationing, rampant inflation and his brother Billy, it was one more thing for Republicans to be furious about. To soften the blow, Jimmy pushed the actual hand off out to 1999.
As part of the deal, Panama is supposed to play fair. They aren’t. “China has become increasingly influential” in the operation of “one of the world’s most crucial pieces of infrastructure.”
Donald Trump doesn’t like that idea one bit. Especially because China has nefarious deals brewing in our Latin American back yard.
American naval and commercial ships, Trump notes, are being treated in an “unfair and injudicious way.” He didn’t want to slam Jimmy Carter for what today’s Panamanian government is doing, so called his return of Panama Canal control a “token of cooperation.”
It was a nice gesture to our business partner in the region. That cooperation was also supposed to go both ways. Letting China call the shots isn’t part of the deal.
In full, without question
Trump is clear on his position. Once again, the media is trying to spin and confuse it for dastardly Democrat purposes. They’re calling every legal scholar in town to ask if Trump can really do that. Whether he can or not can never be more than a gray-area legally until half a dozen courts weigh in on it.
Besides, Trump doesn’t really want the canal back. He’s pushing Panama to stick to the bargain. If they don’t, he’ll tie the canal up in knots and generally make life economically miserable for them until they see the light.
All Panamanian leaders have to do is “the right thing.” Democrats don’t want to even acknowledge the possibility they might. Instead, they take President Trump’s threat like it’s written in stone and about to go into effect tomorrow.
“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 us, in full, and without question.” Liberal media ignore that big “if” at the beginning.
Part of Jimmy Carter’s original deal made the exchange contingent on “its permanent neutrality.” That clearly gives Trump a leg to stand on. Right now, around “10,000 ships a year transit the canal.” Panama tries to blame the higher rates on climate change.
It seems, “in recent times severe drought has limited capacity and helped push transit rates higher.” Trump isn’t buying that, calling current fees “ridiculous” and “highly unfair.” Meanwhile, as 70% of the traffic through the canal is American trade, China “has invested heavily in operations in the Canal Zone.” That raises “concerns about the zone’s neutrality.” There’s a lot of political panic in Panama, this Christmas season.
