Jose Raul Mulino rejects prospect of talks with Donald Trump, who threatened US could retake control of Panama Canal.
Published On 26 Dec 2024
The Panamanian president has rejected threats by US President-elect Donald Trump that the United States could reassert control over the Panama Canal, saying “there’s nothing to talk about.”
President Jose Raul Mulino on Thursday also rejected the possibility of reducing canal tolls for US vessels and denied that China had any influence over the vital waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
“If there is an intention to talk, then there’s nothing to talk about,” Mulino said during a weekly news conference.
“The canal is Panamanian and belongs to Panamanians. There’s no possibility of opening any kind of conversation around this reality, which has cost the country blood, sweat and tears.”
The president’s comments come days after Trump, who takes office next month, threatened to take back control of the Panama Canal over what he said were “ridiculous” fees being charged by the Panamanian authorities.
The US exerted administrative control of the canal for decades before handing it to Panama in 1999.
In a series of social media posts over the past week, Trump accused the Central American country, with whom Washington has had diplomatic relations since 1903, of “ripping off” the US on the Panama Canal.
“Our Navy and