Trump Warns that he will not Allow Foreign Influence Regarding his ‘Favorite Canal’ in Panama
US President Donald Trump warned on Saturday that his government “will not allow foreign influence” in the Americas as part of his new doctrine. He mentioned the Panama Canal, which he called his “favorite canal,” in the presence of Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino. Mulino has repeatedly defended that the interoceanic waterway is administered exclusively by Panama and that its sovereignty “is not negotiable.” “We will not allow hostile foreign influence to establish itself in this hemisphere, and that includes the Panama Canal, which we have discussed. We will not allow it.”
Trump declared this statement in his inaugural address for his “Shield of the Americas” initiative before more than a dozen Latin American leaders, including Mulino. The Republican leader framed the importance of the maritime route in his “new” version of the Monroe Doctrine, which he has dubbed the ‘Donroe Doctrine’, to justify the United States’ intervention in America and protect the continent from the influence of powers from other regions. Although he did not speak of specific actions, Trump reiterated his interest in the canal directly to the Panamanian president.
“President of Panama, I love that canal, José. I think (Panama) made the greatest deal in history. It was bought for $1 by one of our brilliant presidents (Jimmy Carter in 1977). I can’t sleep about that deal. They gave it to them for $1,” the president declared.
The relationship with Mulino has been marked by tension after the first months of Trump’s term in 2025, when he threatened to reclaim the Panama Canal because of the alleged influence of China, a claim rejected by the Panamanian government, which demanded that Washington not involve its country in its geopolitical struggle with Beijing. The United States built the Canal at the beginning of the 20th century and operated it for more than eight decades, until its transfer to Panama on December 31, 1999. Trump based his thesis of China’s “malign influence” on the fact that two of the five ports located around the canal were operated by a subsidiary of the Chinese conglomerate CK Hutchison, he changed it since last February 23 after an unappealable court ruling that declared the concession null and void.
The Canal is Managed by Panama
The Panamanian government has repeatedly denied that there is international interference—and specifically from China—in the administration of the Panama Canal. The President of the Republic, José Raúl Mulino, stated in December 2024, when the first warnings from the then US President-elect, Donald Trump, emerged, that the interoceanic waterway is administered exclusively by Panamanians: “Every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent zone belongs to Panama and will continue to do so. The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable,” Mulino said. He even made this clear in a speech at the UN Security Council in September 2025 when Panama temporarily presided over that body.
On numerous occasions, the president has also reiterated that: “The truth is reality. The Canal is and always will be Panamanian.” In the midst of this debate, at the end of January of this year the Supreme Court of Justice declared the unconstitutionality of the contract between the Panamanian State and the company Panama Ports Company (PPC), a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison, which managed the ports of Balboa and Cristóbal. Following the ruling, the State assumed control of both ports and handed them over for temporary administration for 18 months to the companies APM Terminals, for the port of Balboa, and Terminal Investment Limited (TiL), for the port of Cristóbal.
