Russia warns Trump against seizing Panama Canal

Russia warned President Trump on Tuesday against seizing the Panama Canal, after he reiterated his intent to take control of the strategic waterway in his second inaugural address Monday.

"We expect that during the expected discussions between the leadership of Panama and US President Donald Trump on issues of control over the Panama Canal, which certainly falls within the sphere of their bilateral relations, the parties will respect the current international legal regime of this key waterway," said Alexander Shchetinin, director of the Latin American Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, according to Russian state media outlet, TASS.

Shchetinin reaffirmed Russia’s commitment to the neutrality of the critical trade route and said it expects both America and Panama to continue respecting that agreement.

"Russia has been a party to the protocol since 1988 and confirms its obligations to observe the permanent neutrality of the Panama Canal, advocating for keeping this international transit waterway safe and open."

Trump’s pledge to take control of the canal has been a central theme of his recent rhetoric, paired with expansionist designs on Greenland, a Danish overseas territory, and apparent tongue-in-cheek references to making Canada the “51st state.”

“American ships are being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape or form, and that includes the United States Navy. And above all, China is operating the Panama Canal,” Trump said Monday.

Panama has full control of the canal itself, but Hutchison Ports PPC, a Hong Kong-based company, controls two ports at either end of the canal. While Hutchison and CK Hutchison Holdings, its parent company, are not owned by the Chinese government, they are subject to the national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in 2020.

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino responded Monday to Trump’s remarks by rejecting Trump’s vow to retake the canal, saying, it "is and will remain Panama’s and its administration will remain under Panamanian control with respect to its permanent neutrality.”

Mulino also pushed back against the suggestion that China had outsized influence over the canal and said, “There is no presence of any nation in the world that interferes with our administration.”

The United States built the canal in the early 1900s and relinquished control of the waterway to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by former President Carter.

Shchetinin noted that under the agreement, “each of the two countries must protect the canal from any threat to the neutrality regime.”

“At the same time, a reservation was made that the said right of the United States to defend the Panama Canal does not mean and should not be interpreted as the right to interfere in the internal affairs of Panama, and any actions by the American side will never be directed against the territorial integrity or political independence of Panama," Shchetinin added.

Rafael Bernal contributed.

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