President Donald Trump demanded this Saturday (04.2025) that the free transit of the United States commercial and military ships is allowed by the Panama and Suez channels, for which he asked his secretary of state to work “immediately” in this matter.
The US president has shown his intention to resume control of the Panamanian interoceanic route, but now he also pointed to the Suez Canal in Egypt, another vital maritime artery for global trade.
“US ships, both military and commercial, must be able to travel cost -free by the channels of Panama and Suez!”, Wrote the Republican tycoon on his social Truth network.
He affirmed that both routes “would not exist” without the United States and said he had ordered his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, that “he would immediately deal with the situation.
Without directly referring to Trump, the president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, wrote in his X account that establishing the toll costs by the sea corresponds to the authority of the Panama Canal (ACP), an autonomous entity that manages that commercial route.
“There is no agreement to the contrary,” Mulino said, remembering that the ACP is noted to the Neutrality Treaty and the Organic Law of the Canal.
From before returning to the White House in January, Trump increased pressure on Panama, threatening to “recover” the channel built by the United States, opened in 1914 and remained under American sovereignty until 1999.
-Agreement between Panama and the US
Panama obtained that year the control of the road through which 5% of the world maritime trade, under an agreement signed in 1977 with President Jimmy Carter.
The United States and China are its two main users. In early April, Washington obtained authorization from the Panamanian authorities to deploy military around the route after denouncing an alleged interference of the Asian giant.
The agreement was signed by the Panamanian government and the US Secretary of Defense, Peter Hegseth, during an official visit. The document focuses on seeking formulas that allow Panamanian authorities to compensate for the United States for the rates that pay their warships and submarines for crossing the interoceanic channel.
The Suez channel, meanwhile, concentrated around 10% of world maritime transport until Yemen’s rebels began to attack ships in “solidarity” with the Palestinians of Gaza in the midst of the War of Israel and Hamas.
This route has been controlled by Egypt since 1956. The United States has intervened in the area, together with other countries, to try to guarantee its safety and has recently launched a series of attacks against the rebel group.
However, the situation has drastically reduced maritime trade and has forced most ships to avoid the red sea and take expensive deviations surrounding southern Africa.
MG (AFP, EFE, Panama press)
