Donald Trump intends to take back the Panama Canal in the name of strategic interest. The canal, transferred to Panama in 1999, is still controversial.
US’s one of its most remarkable engineering achievements, the Panama Canal, is now likely to be the centre of a new geopolitics battle. Now, since Donald Trump’s latest statement in his first address to Congress in 2025, the world is wondering if the United States would take back the key waterway from Panama.
Trump announced in his speech that, unlike the days of ex-US President Reagan, the US has the technology now to create a strong military force similar to that of Israel and is committed to protecting citizens.
The US will support the shipbuilding industry – commercial and naval, he explained and mentioned that a new office would be set up at the White House to speed these up. Along with our national security policy, we will regain the Panama Canal. It is already underway with one of the large American companies acquiring both of the canal’s ports,” he said.
Trump’s statements were a call back to decades-old controversial choice when the US gave the administration of the canal to Panama in exchange for a mere $1. The choice was originally signed into place under President Jimmy Carter’s administration in 1977, and it’s one of America’s most debated foreign policy accords.
Trump pointed out the gigantic human and financial toll involved in building the canal, where over 38,000 people died during its construction because of illnesses such as malaria, and the cost of around $287 million, which is equivalent to a whopping Rs 20,37,31,49,82,578 today.
The Panama Canal was initially conceived as a means of joining the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, significantly enhancing world shipping routes. Construction started in 1881 under French command but was suspended because of technical issues and excessive mortality among workers. In 1904, the United States assumed the project, which was finished in 1914. The completion of the canal ushered in a new era of American economic and strategic power, solidifying the US as a world maritime power.
