Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

A man walks at the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal in Panama City on December 23, 2024. Arnulfo Franco, AFP

Article (news)

Panama

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1735263030205173502928933220241224081228_PanamaUsPoliticsCanalTrump.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="A man walks at the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal in Panama City on December 23, 2024. Arnulfo Franco, AFP"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">A man walks at the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal in Panama City on December 23, 2024. <em>Arnulfo Franco, AFP</em></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align:left"><br/></div><p>PANAMA CITY, Panama — Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino on Thursday ruled out negotiations with Donald Trump over control of the Panama Canal, which the US president-elect threatened to demand be returned to Washington.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2024/12/23/panama-rejects-trump-s-threat-to-take-control-of-canal-1354">Panama rejects Trump&#x27;s threat to take control of Canal</a></div><p>Mulino also rejected the possibility of reducing canal tolls for US vessels, and denied that China had any influence over the vital waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.</p><p>&quot;If there is an intention to talk, then there&#x27;s nothing to talk about,&quot; Mulino told a weekly press conference.</p><p>&quot;The canal is Panamanian and belongs to Panamanians. There&#x27;s no possibility of opening any kind of conversation around this reality, which has cost the country blood, sweat and tears,&quot; he added.</p><p>The canal, inaugurated in 1914, was built by the United States but handed to Panama on December 31, 1999, under treaties signed some two decades earlier by then-US president Jimmy Carter and Panamanian nationalist leader Omar Torrijos.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2024/12/24/panama-leaders-reject-trump-s-threat-of-canal-takeover-1635">Panama leaders reject Trump&#x27;s threat of Canal takeover</a></div><p>Trump on Saturday slammed what he called unfair fees for US ships passing through the canal and hinted at China&#x27;s growing influence.</p><p>If Panama could not ensure &quot;the secure, efficient and reliable operation&quot; of the channel, &quot;then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question,&quot; he said.</p><p>Mulino said the usage fees were &quot;not set at the whim of the president or the administrator&quot; of the interoceanic waterway, but under a long-established &quot;public and open process.&quot;</p><p>&quot;There is absolutely no Chinese interference or participation in anything to do with the Panama Canal,&quot; Mulino said.</p><p>On Tuesday, dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the US embassy in Panama City chanting &quot;Trump, animal, leave the canal alone&quot; and burning an image of the incoming American president.</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uex1IFLCJD8?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino rejected the possibility of reducing canal tolls for US vessels. </p>

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino rejected the possibility of reducing canal tolls for US vessels.

Panama president rules out talks with Trump over canal threat

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Panama president rules out talks with Trump over canal threat

Agence France-Presse

Published Dec 27, 2024 10:04 AM PHT

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Panama City

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Jose Raul Mulino

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