Panama president says Trump is lying about reclaiming Panama Canal
Source: CBS News/AP
March 5, 2025 / 11:21 AM EST
Panama President José Raúl Mulino on Wednesday accused U.S. President Donald Trump of lying when he said in his Tuesday address to a joint session of Congress that his administration was "reclaiming" the Panama Canal. Mr. Trump was referencing a deal announced Tuesday for a consortium led by the U.S. investment management company BlackRock Inc. to buy a controlling stake in the company held by a Hong-Kong based group that operates ports near both ends of the Panama Canal.
The announcement came after the president alleged Chinese interference with operations of the critical shipping lane. 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 U.S.-based company would not represent any U.S. "reclaiming" of the canal. Panama's government on Tuesday called the sale a private transaction.
Mulino, in a message posted to X on Wednesday, rejected that the deal came about because of U.S. 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 in the post translated from Spanish. He accused Mr. Trump of "lying again."
"The Panama Canal is not in the process of being restored, and this is certainly not the task that was even discussed in our conversations with Secretary Rubio or anyone else," Mulino continued. CBS News fact-checked the president's remarks to Congress here, reviewing his claims about the Panama Canal in addition to other issues.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/panama-president-says-trump-lying-about-reclaiming-panama-canal/
= new reply since forum marked as read
