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Donald Trump vowed his administration would be “taking back” the Panama Canal on Monday, in his inauguration speech following his swearing in as the country’s 47th president.
Trump said that the US had been “treated very badly” by Panama and that American ships are being “severely overcharged”.
He added: “And above all, China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China; we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”
Trump also pledged a number of moves that will have major implications for America’s allies and adversaries, including a mass deportation plan, a reversal of outgoing US President Joe Biden’s clean-energy policy, a halt on a law banning TikTok and tariffs against major trade partners including China, Mexico and Canada.
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Reporting by Robert Delaney, Mark Magnier, Khushboo Razdan, Laura Zhou, Igor Patrick, Bochen Han, Kawala Xie, Ralph Jennings and Finbarr Bermingham. All times given in blog entries are Eastern Time (UTC-5, HKT-13).