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Trump Asks Military for Plans to Take Panama Canal ‘By Force’
Daily Beast
Fri Mar 14, 2025
Area: Washington, DC (Hagerstown)
The White House has asked the United States military to draw up plans for how it might seize the Panama Canal “by force,” a bombshell report revealed Thursday.
The alleged directive comes a week after President Donald Trump told lawmakers in his joint address to Congress he would be “reclaiming” the vital waterway to “further enhance our national security.”
Using troops to seize the canal is considered a “less likely” option being weighed by the White House, unnamed officials told NBC News, but is apparently not off the table.
The network reported that “how much the Panamanian military agrees to partner with the U.S.” will determine whether military action will be taken.
The courses of action the Trump administration has considered range from “simply ensuring that U.S. ships have safe passage through the canal” and letting Panama retain sole control of the canal as it has since late 1999 to “restoring total U.S. ownership and operation” of the waterway.
Other hypotheticals officials have weighed include using U.S. soldiers to secure ports in Panama, building new ports, or even dispatching the Army Corps of Engineers to operate the canal’s locks.
“There are also discussions about opening Army Jungle Schools, or training camps, in Panama, like the ones U.S. troops trained in jungle warfare until the canal was formally handed over to Panama,” Trump administration sources told NBC.
The White House did not immediately provide comment on the report when contacted by the Daily Beast.
The tiny Central American country has been a staunch ally since former President Theodore Roosevelt was the first world leader to recognize its independence in 1903.
Chinese influence at the waterway is among Trump’s biggest concerns. He claims Chinese troops are “controlling” the canal and has stated Panama is overcharging the U.S. for its use. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino has rebuffed these claims as “nonsense.”
“It’s impossible. I can’t negotiate,” Mulino said in January when asked about relinquishing control of the canal. “That is done. The canal belongs to Panama.”
The White House said placing U.S. troops in Panama would curb China’s influence there, NBC reported. In the event a regional war broke out, troops could block Chinese ships from using the waterway.
Panama’s constitution enshrines the neutrality of the 50-mile canal, which the U.S. constructed in the early 1900s before ceding control in the 1970s.
A majority of the ships using the canal are bound for the U.S. or originate from the country. If the canal were to be blocked, vessels traversing between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans would be forced to circle South America.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the canal last month and claimed he brokered a deal that would allow U.S. ships to pass through for free. Mulino quickly shot down that claim, however, and Rubio eventually clarified those were merely his “expectations.”
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