Trump demands free passage via Suez Canal
President Donald Trump has claimed that neither the Panama Canal nor the Suez Canal would “exist” without the United States, and demanded that American commercial and military vessels be allowed to pass through the crucial waterways free of charge.
Trump has repeatedly expressed his intention to “take back” control of the Panama Canal, using economic or military means if necessary. On Saturday, the US president’s desire to protect American “national security” interests from Chinese competition extended to another strategic waterway – Egypt’s Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.
“American ships, both military and commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the Panama and Suez Canals! Those canals would not exist without the United States of America,” the president said in a Truth Social post.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was already instructed “to immediately take care of, and memorialize [sic], this situation,” Trump added.
While the Suez Canal was conceived, financed and built in the 1850s by the British and French, Egypt has received more than $87bn in foreign aid from Washington since 1946, according to Al Jazeera, making the country one of the highest recipients in the Middle East after Israel.
The United States and the Soviet Union played key roles in pressuring Britain, France, and Israel to withdraw troops from Egypt during the 1956-1957 Suez Crisis, thereby helping to restore Egyptian control over the canal.
Later, after Israel had invaded and occupied the Sinai Peninsula in 1967 and shut down the canal for eight years, the US brokered a peace deal which restored full control to Egypt in 1982.
The US not only constructed the Panama Canal, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, in the early 20th century, but was also instrumental in securing Panamanian independence from neighboring Colombia.
Full control of the canal was transferred to Panama in 1999 under the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, which stipulated that it would remain neutral and open to all nations.
Trump and US officials have argued that China’s economic activities – including infrastructure projects and port operations – may violate the 1977 Panama Canal Neutrality Treaty, which grants the US the right to “defend” the waterway.
Panamanian officials have previously rejected Trump’s assertions and threats, while the Panama Canal Authority maintains that the canal is operated solely by Panamanians, with no evidence supporting claims of Chinese control. President Jose Raul Mulino has stated that the canal is part of Panama’s “inalienable patrimony” and stressed that the country maintains full control over its operations.
However, after Rubio personally delivered Trump’s ultimatum to Panama in February, Mulino made a concession to Washington by refusing to renew the country’s 2017 agreements with China under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that multiple US Navy vessels, Coast Guard assets, and aircraft have been deployed in and around Panama as part of “bold first steps to revive our defense and security ties between our countries.”
