Katie Pavlich has the report at Townhall.com entitled Trump is Right About the Panama Canal. It was built by the United States after France failed miserably. And it did costs us dearly in blood and treasure but proved invaluable. We should never have given it away. If the Panamanians cannot manage the canal with Panamanian labor and Panamanian management, including maintaining the neutrality of the canal, then we should take it over again. But in any case, having the Chinese in Panama is absolutely unacceptable. President Monroe had figured that out in 1825. That the Biden administration has tolerated it is one more reason why Trump was elected.
Trump made big news last week when he threatened to take back the Panama Canal, a move met with grumbling and a response from the Panamanian government.
“We’re being ripped off at the Panama Canal like we’re being ripped off everywhere else,” Trump said during recent remarks in Arizona. “We will never, never let it fall into the wrong hands.”
“The Panama Canal is considered a vital National Asset for the United States, due to its critical role to America’s Economy and National Security. 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,” Trump continued. “To the Officials of Panama, please be guided accordingly!”
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Further, prior to the U.S. handing over management of the canal the two countries signed a pair of treaties. One of them gave the U.S. the right to use military force to reestablish neutrality in the canal if it ever were to be threatened.
“The Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal, or the Neutrality Treaty, stated that the United States could use its military to defend the Panama Canal against any threat to its neutrality, thus allowing perpetual U.S. usage of the Canal,” the State Department says.
Now that the Chinese Communist Party has embedded itself in the ports and companies running the canal, where ships are being charged exorbitant fees, Trump has a right to invoke the terms of the treaty.
Trump would be perfectly within his rights to take back the canal, at least until it is secred again. Still, I don't think it will come to that.
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