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Wednesday December 25, 2024

Panama rejects Trump’s threat of Canal takeover

By AFP
December 25, 2024
A collage of the pictures of Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino and US president-elect Donald Trump. — Reuters/File
A collage of the pictures of Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino and US president-elect Donald Trump. — Reuters/File

PANAMA CITY: The status of the Panama Canal is non-negotiable, President Jose Raul Mulino said in a statement Monday signed alongside former leaders of the country, after Donald Trump´s recent threats to reclaim the man-made waterway. The US president-elect on Saturday had slammed what he called unfair fees for US ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand control of the waterway be returned to Washington. Mulino dismissed Trump´s comments Sunday, saying “every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent areas belongs to Panama and will continue belonging to Panama”.