Rubio is scheduled to visit Panama’s strategic waterway on Sunday and meet with President Jose Raul Mulino before wrapping up his five-nation tour of the area.
He stated in a Wall Street Journal column on Friday that it was no accident that my first overseas assignment as secretary of state would keep me in the hemisphere.
40 percent of US container traffic passes through the canal, which serves as a crucial link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and coasts.
Trump has argued that China has overachieved control through its investment in nearby ports, and that the US handed over the Panama Canal at the end of 1999.
Trump said in his inaugural address last month that the United States would be “taking it back” and that he would not back down on Friday. “They’ve already offered to do many things”, Trump said of Panama, “but we think it’s appropriate that we take it back”.
He claimed that Panama was removing Chinese-language signs to conceal Panama’s claim that they had “completely broken the agreement” on the canal. “Marco Rubio is going over to talk to the gentleman that’s in charge”, Trump told reporters.
Rubio’s mission comes in the wake of Trump’s tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, which show a much more aggressive foreign policy.
The Panama Canal is “appeared to Panama.”
Mulino, the president of Panama, has ruled out any negotiations with the US regarding the canal’s ownership. He expressed hope that Rubio’s visit would instead concentrate on common goals like preventing drug trafficking and preventing migration.
“It’s impossible, I can’t negotiate”, Mulino said on Thursday. “The canal belongs to Panama”.
Yet Rubio said he would make Trump’s intent clear. He claimed that Trump’s desire is motivated by legitimate national security concerns raised by growing concerns about Chinese influence and activity in Latin America in an interview with SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly on Thursday.
“We are going to address that topic”, said Rubio. “The president’s been pretty clear he wants to administer the canal again. Obviously, the Panamanians are not big fans of that idea. That message has been made very clear.
Some believe Panama may be open to a compromise, in which case Hutchison Ports, a company with a presence in Hong Kong, will no longer be able to operate canals on both sides.
Trump’s demands, which appear to include more than just operations, remain ambiguous. They include whether he would agree to the transfer of the concession to an American or European company.
“In some ways, Trump is pushing on an open door”, said Ryan Berg, director of the Americas programme at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, DC-based think tank. However, how his red lines are defined will determine that.
Source: Aljazeera
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