Panama President José Raúl Mulino on Wednesday accused US President Donald Trump of lying when he said in his address to Congress that his administration was “reclaiming” the Panama Canal.
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Trump was referencing a deal announced on Tuesday for a consortium led by the US investment management company BlackRock Inc. to buy a controlling stake in the company held by a Chinese group that operates ports at both ends of the Panama Canal.
Panama maintains that it has full control over the canal and that the Hong Kong-based group’s operation of the ports did not amount to Chinese control over the waterway, and that therefore the sale to a US-based company would not represent any US “reclaiming” of the canal. Panama’s government on Tuesday called the sale a private transaction.
Mulino in a message posted on social media on Wednesday, rejected that the deal came about because of US pressure. “I reject in the name of Panama and all Panamanians this new affront to the truth and our dignity as a nation,” he wrote. He accused Trump of “lying again”.
Trump has talked about retaking the Panama Canal since his campaign, arguing that the US should have never turned control over to the Panamanians and that the US was being overcharged for using it.
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Panama President Mulino rejects US claims of Chinese influence in Panama Canal
Panama President Mulino rejects US claims of Chinese influence in Panama Canal
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Mulino in early February and insisted that China was exerting influence over the canal’s operations. The focus was the Chinese consortium running the ports. Panama rejected that China had any influence over canal operations.