Skip to Content Facebook Feature Image

A history of the Panama Canal — and why Trump can't take it back on his own

News

A history of the Panama Canal — and why Trump can't take it back on his own
News

News

A history of the Panama Canal — and why Trump can't take it back on his own

2024-12-24 05:28 Last Updated At:05:31

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Teddy Roosevelt once declared the Panama Canal “one of the feats to which the people of this republic will look back with the highest pride.” More than a century later, Donald Trump is threatening to take back the waterway for the same republic.

The president-elect is decrying increased fees Panama has imposed to use the waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. He says if things don't change after he takes office next month, "We will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America, in full, quickly and without question.”

Trump has long threatened allies with punitive action in hopes of winning concessions. But experts in both countries are clear: Unless he goes to war with Panama, Trump can't reassert control over a canal the U.S. agreed to cede in the 1970s.

Here's a look at how we got here:

It is a man-made waterway that uses a series of locks and reservoirs over 51 miles (82 kilometers) to cut through the middle of Panama and connect the Atlantic and Pacific. It spares ships having to go an additional roughly 7,000 miles (more than 11,000 kilometers) to sail around Cape Horn at South America's southern tip.

The U.S. International Trade Administration says the canal saves American business interests “considerable time and fuel costs” and enables faster delivery of goods, which is “particularly significant for time sensitive cargoes, perishable goods, and industries with just-in-time supply chains.”

An effort to establish a canal through Panama led by Ferdinand de Lesseps, who built Egypt's Suez Canal, began in 1880 but progressed little over nine years before going bankrupt.

Malaria, yellow fever and other tropical diseases devastated a workforce already struggling with especially dangerous terrain and harsh working conditions in the jungle, eventually costing more than 20,000 lives, by some estimates.

Panama was then a province of Colombia, which refused to ratify a subsequent 1901 treaty licensing U.S. interests to build the canal. Roosevelt responded by dispatching U.S. warships to Panama's Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The U.S. also prewrote a constitution that would be ready after Panamanian independence, giving American forces “the right to intervene in any part of Panama, to re-establish public peace and constitutional order.”

In part because Colombian troops were unable to traverse harsh jungles, Panama declared an effectively bloodless independence within hours in November 1903. It soon signed a treaty allowing a U.S.-led team to begin construction.

Some 5,600 workers died later during the U.S.-led construction project, according to one study.

The waterway opened in 1914, but almost immediately some Panamanians began questioning the validity of U.S. control, leading to what became known in the country as the “generational struggle” to take it over.

The U.S. abrogated its right to intervene in Panama in the 1930s. By the 1970s, with its administrative costs sharply increasing, Washington spent years negotiating with Panama to cede control of the waterway.

The Carter administration worked with the government of Omar Torrijos. The two sides eventually decided that their best chance for ratification was to submit two treaties to the U.S. Senate, the “Permanent Neutrality Treaty" and the “Panama Canal Treaty."

The first, which continues in perpetuity, gives the U.S. the right to act to ensure the canal remains open and secure. The second stated that the U.S. would turn over the canal to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, and was terminated then.

Both were signed in 1977 and ratified the following year. The agreements held even after 1989, when President George H.W. Bush invaded Panama to remove Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega.

In the late 1970s, as the handover treaties were being discussed and ratified, polls found that about half of Americans opposed the decision to cede canal control to Panama. However, by the time ownership actually changed in 1999, public opinion had shifted, with about half of Americans in favor.

Administration of the canal has been more efficient under Panama than during the U.S. era, with traffic increasing 17% between fiscal years 1999 and 2004. Panama's voters approved a 2006 referendum authorizing a major expansion of the canal to accommodate larger modern cargo ships. The expansion took until 2016 and cost more than $5.2 billion.

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino said in a video Sunday that “every square meter of the canal belongs to Panama and will continue to.” He added that, while his country's people are divided on some key issues, “when it comes to our canal, and our sovereignty, we will all unite under our Panamanian flag.”

Shipping prices have increased because of droughts last year affecting the canal locks, forcing Panama to drastically cut shipping traffic through the canal and raise rates to use it. Though the rains have mostly returned, Panama says future fee increases might be necessary as it undertakes improvements to accommodate modern shipping needs.

Mulino said fees to use the canal are “not set on a whim.”

Jorge Luis Quijano, who served as the waterway’s administrator from 2014 to 2019, said all canal users are subject to the same fees, though they vary by ship size and other factors.

“I can accept that the canal’s customers may complain about any price increase,” Quijano said. “But that does not give them reason to consider taking it back.”

The president-elect says the U.S. is getting “ripped off" and “I’m not going to stand for it.”

“It was given to Panama and to the people of Panama, but it has provisions — you’ve got to treat us fairly. And they haven’t treated us fairly,” Trump said of the 1977 treaty that he said “foolishly” gave the canal away.

The neutrality treaty does give the U.S. the right to act if the canal's operation is threatened due to military conflict — but not to reassert control.

“There's no clause of any kind in the neutrality agreement that allows for the taking back of the canal,” Quijano said. “Legally, there's no way, under normal circumstances, to recover territory that was used previously."

Trump, meanwhile, hasn't said how he might make good on his threat.

“There’s very little wiggle room, absent a second U.S. invasion of Panama, to retake control of the Panama Canal in practical terms," said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.

Gedan said Trump’s stance is especially baffling given that Mulino is a pro-business conservative who has “made lots of other overtures to show that he would prefer a special relationship with the United States.” He also noted that Panama in recent years has moved closer to China, meaning the U.S. has strategic reasons to keep its relationship with the Central American nation friendly.

Panama is also a U.S. partner on stopping illegal immigration from South America — perhaps Trump’s biggest policy priority.

“If you’re going to pick a fight with Panama on an issue,” Gedan said, “you could not find a worse one than the canal.”

Weissert reported from West Palm Beach, Florida, and Fields from Washington. Amelia Thomson-Deveaux contributed to this report from Washington.

FILE - A cargo ship traverses the Agua Clara Locks of the Panama Canal in Colon, Panama, Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)

FILE - A cargo ship traverses the Agua Clara Locks of the Panama Canal in Colon, Panama, Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)

FILE - President Jimmy Carter applauds as General Omar Torrijos waves after the signing and exchange of treaties in Panama City on June 16, 1978, giving control of the Panama Canal to Panama in 2000. At far right is Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carterís National Security Advisor. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - President Jimmy Carter applauds as General Omar Torrijos waves after the signing and exchange of treaties in Panama City on June 16, 1978, giving control of the Panama Canal to Panama in 2000. At far right is Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carterís National Security Advisor. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - President Jimmy Carter views the Panama Canal at the Miraflores Locks in Canal Zone on June 17, 1978. On Friday Carter signed the final Panama Canal Treaties giving control of the canal to Panama in 2000. (AP Photo/Tasnadi, File)

FILE - President Jimmy Carter views the Panama Canal at the Miraflores Locks in Canal Zone on June 17, 1978. On Friday Carter signed the final Panama Canal Treaties giving control of the canal to Panama in 2000. (AP Photo/Tasnadi, File)

CAIRO (AP) — Famine is spreading in Sudan due to a war between the military and a notorious paramilitary group that has devastated the country and created the world’s largest displacement crisis, a global hunger-monitoring group said Tuesday.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said it detected famine in five areas, including in Sudan’s largest displacement camp, Zamzam, in North Darfur province, where famine was found for the first time in August.

“This marks an unprecedented deepening and widening of the food and nutrition crisis, driven by the devastating conflict, which has triggered unprecedented mass displacement, a collapsing economy, the breakdown of essential social services, and severe societal disruptions, and poor humanitarian access,” an IPC report said.

It added that in areas of high conflict, hostilities can severely disrupt farming activities, resulting in farmers abandoning their crops, looting, and stock destruction.

“Displaced households, especially those living in settlements and public buildings, are unlikely to benefit significantly from the harvest,” it said.

As well as in the Zamzam camp, which hosts more than 400,000 people, famine was also detected in two other camps for displaced people, Abu Shouk and al-Salam in North Darfur, and the Western Nuba Mountains, IPC’s report said.

Five other areas in North Darfur are projected “with reasonable evidence” to experience famine in the next six months, including el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur, it said. Seventeen areas in the Nuba Mountains and the northern and southern areas of Darfur are at risk of famine, it added.

The report said some areas in Khartoum and the east-central province of Gezira “may be experiencing” famine-like conditions. It said experts were unable to confirm whether famine threshold has been surpassed due to lack of data.

Ahead of the IPC's report, Sudan’s government said it had suspended its participation in the global system, according to a senior United Nations official with knowledge of the move.

In a letter dated Dec. 23, Agriculture Minister Abu Baker al-Beshri accused the IPC of “issuing unreliable reports that undermine Sudan’s sovereignty and dignity,” said the UN official, who spoke in condition of anonymity.

Sudan has been roiled by a 20-month war that has killed more than than 24,000 people and driven over 14 million people — about 30% of the population — from their homes, according to the United Nations. An estimated 3.2 million Sudanese have crossed into neighboring countries, including Chad, Egypt and South Sudan.

The war began in April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, before spreading to other urban areas and the western Darfur region. The conflict has been marked by atrocities, including ethnically motivated killing and rape, according to to the UN and rights groups. The International Criminal Court is investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

There is widespread hunger, with food in markets now scarce and prices have spiked. Aid groups also say they’re struggling to reach the most vulnerable as warring parties limit access, especially in North Darfur province.

Dervla Cleary, a senior emergency and rehabilitation officer at the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, said 638,000 people are experiencing famine.

“The situation in Sudan is just awful. It is unacceptable in a world like today,” she said. “We need the violence to stop so people can access food, water, health, nutrition and agriculture.”

According to the IPC report, a total of 24.6 million Sudanese — half of the population — faces high levels of acute food insecurity.

Sudan is the third country where famine was declared in the past 15 years, along with South Sudan and Somalia, where a 2011 major famine was estimated to have killed a quarter of a million people - half of them children under 5 years old.

The IPC comprises more than a dozen U.N. agencies, aid groups, and governments that use its monitoring as a global reference for analysis of food and nutrition crises.

The organization has also warned that large parts of Gaza’s Palestinian population face the threat of famine.

FILE - People gather to collect water in Khartoum, Sudan, May 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali, File)

FILE - People gather to collect water in Khartoum, Sudan, May 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali, File)

File - A man walks by a house hit in recent fighting in Khartoum, Sudan, an area torn by fighting between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, April 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali, File)

File - A man walks by a house hit in recent fighting in Khartoum, Sudan, an area torn by fighting between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, April 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali, File)

FILE - Sudanese Khadiga Omer adam sits by her sick child in an MSF-run clinic in the Aboutengue displacement site near Acre, Chad, Friday, Oct 4. 2024. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)

FILE - Sudanese Khadiga Omer adam sits by her sick child in an MSF-run clinic in the Aboutengue displacement site near Acre, Chad, Friday, Oct 4. 2024. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)

FILE - Sudanese refugees arrive in Acre, Chad, Sunday, Oct 6. 2024. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)

FILE - Sudanese refugees arrive in Acre, Chad, Sunday, Oct 6. 2024. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)

FILE - A doctor treats a Sudanese child suffering from malnutrition are treated at an MSF clinic in Metche Camp, Chad, near the Sudanese border, on April 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Patricia Simon, File)

FILE - A doctor treats a Sudanese child suffering from malnutrition are treated at an MSF clinic in Metche Camp, Chad, near the Sudanese border, on April 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Patricia Simon, File)

Recommended Articles