US President Donald Trump has once again vowed to "take back" the Panama Canal. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, the Republican leader warned of "powerful US actions" amid the ongoing diplomatic dispute with Panama due tꦑo China's presence in the waterway.
"China is running the Panama Canal that was not given to China, that was given to Panama foolishly, but they violated the agreemen♈t, and we’re going to take it back, or something very powerful is going to happen,” Trump told the press.
Since his election campaign, Trump has stated he would like to purchase Greenland, regain control of the Panama Canal and rename the G💮ulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
The vital waterway was also mentioned in Trump's inaugural speech as the 47th Presi🐬dent of the United States, alleging that the operations﷽ of the waterway are a violation of the 1977 handover treaty with Panama.
Trump has publicly repeated desire to re-take the Panama Canal has stirred up diplಌomatic tensions with the Central American country.
However, these tensions appeared to eas🐼e𒀰 after Secretary of State Marco Rubio's meeting with Panama President Raúl Mulino.
Mulino told Rubio that the sovereignty of the Panama Canal was not up for debate and affirmed that Panama would not be joining China♔'s Belt and Road initiative.
Despite this, Rubio warned the Panamanian government that the US "would take measures" unless the country made changes to its operati💖ons of the canal to combat growing Chinese influence.
