Declaration of Independence

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. - That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Thursday, January 30, 2025

Why Is Trump Concerned About the Panama Canal?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns the Panama Canal. Most Americans were caught off guard when President Donald Trump first called to take back control of the Panama Canal. Since his first mention of it, more information emerged for his reasoning. The main reason for Trump’s concern about the Panama Canal is national security. China is making inroads at the Panama Canal.

George Caldwell reported that the U.S. Senate is now working on the matter. On Tuesday, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee began discussing the rivalry between America and China at the Panama Canal. Trump warned that there is heavy Chinese activity in the canal area, and he has not ruled out using military force to take back control. 

Sen. Ted Cruz opened the hearing by warning of increasing Chinese control of the canal – in his view, a violation of the United States’ 1977 agreement with Panama that returned control of the canal to the Central American nation at the end of 1999, as well as an economic and national security risk.


“Chinese companies are building a bridge across the canal – at a slow pace so as to take nearly a decade – and control container ports at either end. The partially completed bridge gives China the ability to block the canal without warning, and the ports give China ready observation posts to time that action. This situation poses acute risks to U.S. national security,” said Cruz.


“We cannot afford to let American shippers be extorted,” Cruz said. “We cannot turn a blind eye if Panama exploits an asset of vital commercial and military importance. And we cannot stay idle while China is on the march in our hemisphere.”

Four experts were invited to speak to the committee. All four experts “have expertise on the Panama Canal and the international economy.”

The first expert listed was Eugene Kontorovich, a law professor at George Mason University. He told the committee that the activities of the Chinese companies in Panama look like business dealings but “are likely to also [be] strategic military maneuvers.

“Modern warfare has seen belligerent powers seek to evade international legal limitations by disguising their actions in civilian garb,” said Kontorovich. “Bad actors seek to exploit the fact that international treaties focus on sovereign actors. Many of China’s manmade islands in the South China Sea began as ostensibly civilian projects before being militarized.”


Kontorovich also contended that the treaty between then-President Jimmy Carter and Panama provided both sides the ability to use military force to defend their interests in the canal.


“It was clear that the treaty was understood as giving both sides separately the right to resort to use armed force to enforce the provisions of the treaty … Panama agreed that the United States could enforce this regime of neutrality by force,” he said.

The second expert was Daniel Maffei, the chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission. He suggested that he did not know of any Chinese spies trying to shut down the Panama Canal but that they could do so.

“It’s not hard to close off a waterway,” said Maffei. “The Panama Canal is actually quite vulnerable in terms of infrastructure. This is not a fort or a military enforced location.”

Both Republican and Democrat senators recognized the need to secure the interests of America in the Panama Canal. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) gave a written statement to The Daily Statement about her concern about giving national security priority to protecting waterways.

“Chinese Communist Party’s influence on the operations of Chinese companies at the Panama Canal is a huge national security concern,” she said. “The United States should consider conditioning the billions of dollars we invest in Panama on keeping Communist China out of essential canal operations.”

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