President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said the Panama Canal is ‘vital’ to the U.S. and that treaties signed by former president Jimmy Carter to cede canal control to the Central American country were a ‘big mistake.’
Control of the Panama Canal, once a key U.S. presidential campaign issue for Ronald Reagan and an animating topic for people ranging from film legend John Wayne to an unpredictable Canadian-born U.S. senator, has seemingly made a comeback as a hot-button topic in Washington.
President-elect Donald Trump has let loose on the campaign trail and during the transition with a series of complaints, sometimes inaccurate, concerning Panama’s administration of the key passage that help ships navigate between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in a much less time-consuming fashion than would otherwise be the case.
“About 40 per cent of U.S.-destined container trade goes through the Panama Canal, so it is in the nation’s commercial …