The Panama Canal is owned and controlled by Panama, and it's going to stay that way, the country's leader said after President Trump vowed to take it back in his inaugural address Monday. "I must reject in its entirety the words expressed by President Donald Trump regarding Panama and its Canal," President José Raúl Mulino said, per NBC News. In his address, Trump said that the treaty that transferred control of the canal from the US to Panama in 1999 had been "totally violated" and that American ships were being overcharged. "And above all, China is operating the Panama Canal," Trump said. "And we didn't give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we're taking it back."
"The Canal is and will remain Panama's, and its administration will remain under Panamanian control with respect to its permanent neutrality," Murino said. He also rejected Trump's claim that China is operating the canal, the BBC reports. "There is no presence of any nation in the world that interferes with our administration," Murino said. Panama has full control of the canal, but ports at both ends are operated by Hong Kong-based company Hutchison Ports PPC, reports the Hill.
Murino also pushed back against Trump's claim that the US had "given" the canal to Panama. "The canal was not a concession from anyone," he said. "It was the result of generational struggles that culminated in 1999." He said any disputes should be resolved under international law. "Dialogue is always the way to clear up the stated issues without undermining our rights, total sovereignty and property of our Canal," Murino said. (More Panama Canal stories.)
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