Trump’s Panama Canal Fixation, Fighting China, and Opposing Militarism
The Trump administration and U.S. military leadership are concerned about China’s use of the Panama Canal’s ports and surrounding land in the event of a political or military conflict. In the eyes of the U.S. administration, China could use these key access points to stop the movement of both the U.S. army and supply chains. While some present a military conflict between the United States and China (among others) as unlikely, Trump’s insistence on retaking the Panama Canal has been a constant. In addition, the Trump administration has emphasized the importance of securing a series of other key points, such as Ukraine, Palestine, Greenland, China, Canada, and Mexico with the aim of securing an American zone of influence. Elements of this conflict include the trade war against China, Canada and Mexico; colonial rhetoric in Palestine and Greenland; and peace in Ukraine, which, if achieved, could bring enormous gains for U.S. imperialism.
For the United States, access to the Panama Canal is important from an economic point of view because it connects the U.S. east and west coasts by water. This influences world trade and is significant for the United States’ economic relationship within its own territory. The volume of cargo passing through the Canal classified as U.S. “internal” trade varies between 16 and 33 percent, and up to 57 percent of the cargo passing through the Canal will go to a U.S. port. There is also the added military advantage of allowing the U.S. to move its forces around more easily if it controls the Canal. In recent years, Panama has become increasingly penetrated by Chinese capital, making it one of the countries in Central America where U.S. hegemony has been challenged.
The plans being developed by the U.S. Southern Command — and of which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been made aware — include increasing military presence in Panama with the aid of the Panamanian military and establishing military schools for special forces in the event of a war in the jungle. Another option is the United States assuming full control and ownership of the Canal and thus guaranteeing its use at its discretion. The military command is assuming that Panama will agree to this military presence. What Trump desires is a return to the early 20th century, when the United States established a colonial enclave throughout the Panama Canal Zone, exercising full sovereignty over its sphere of influence with military troops at its command to ensure its total rule. He wants to draw from and reignite the policies of President William McKinley, famous for annexing territories and forcing Latin America into subservience for the United States’ capital interests.
Fighting China by Oppressing Panama and Central America
During his recent trip to Panama, Marco Rubio completely rejected the presence of China in Panama, and his position was accompanied by a $23 billion investment from the U.S.-based company BlackRock to buy the rights to ports on either side of the canal from its current owner, CK Hutchison Holding, a Hong Kong-based company. Trump presented this purchase as the first step in regaining control of the Canal. In Costa Rica, the Trump administration has canceled visas issued to national deputies and high-level government officials for being in favor of China’s 5G technology for the state’s telecommunications company. The Trump administration recently announced its formal opposition to the CHIPS Act, which could have brought cutting-edge technology to the United States, while using Costa Rica as a base for Asian migrants deported from the USA.
In Guatemala and El Salvador, flights of forcibly repatriated migrants are continually arriving, with the complete compliance of the progressive Guatemalan president Arévalo and the reactionary El Salvadoran president Bukele. The position of removing Nicaragua from the Free Trade Agreement as a means of weakening the Nicaraguan Ortega regime will ultimately result in the impoverishment of all Nicaraguan people who already suffer under the regime. Along these lines, Rubio’s visit succeeded in getting most of the Central American governments to fall in line behind American imperialist interests. This relative success helps to create an environment in which the confrontation with China, although real and increasingly tense for the United States, is used as an excuse for the U.S. to deepen its position as an imperialist country with respect to the Central American states through militarization, political interference, and economic investment.
Opposing Militarism
Due to the strategic importance of the Panama Canal, it could become a flashpoint in the future, depending on international dynamics, such as an immediate response from China or new tensions in Europe. The majority of governments in the region have sided with U.S. imperialism in the conflict between the United States, China, Russia, and now also Europe. They are faithful representatives of the traditional submissive relationship that the Central American bourgeoisie has established with the United States, from which the latter has managed to accumulate wealth and influence. The people of Central America can expect little from these governments. Politicians like Mulino, the president of Panama, represent an oligarchy that for decades has benefited from the wealth generated by the Canal, wealth that has never been used to benefit the interests of the working people of Panama.
To confront Trump, we must take up the internationalist banners of the working class by developing internationalism from below that rejects imperialist interference in our countries. In Central America, the class struggle has had a fundamentally anti-imperialist character, uniting workers, peasants, women, and young people throughout the region. The Panama Canal must be under the complete control of the Panamanian working people — not the national interests of the United States. Panama also has the right to do business with whomever it chooses, be it the United States, China, or Central American countries. The imperialist military presence must be rejected by all Central American workers and we must be prepared to mobilize in defense of the Canal for the Panamanian people. We call on the region’s trade unions and peasant organizations to mobilize to confront Trump’s warmongering policy against our working class siblings in Panama.
