Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino speaks during his weekly press conference at the presidential palace in Panama City on December 26, 2024. – President Mulino said Thursday that he will not negotiate any changes to the Panama Canal with the United States after President-elect Donald Trump threatened to take back the operation of the commercial passage. (Photo by ARNULFO FRANCO / AFP)
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.
This development was the latest milestone for the company, which has seen its local market grow in value to multiple hundreds of millions of pesos annually.
This is because the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is still studying whether they will grant the price adjustments petitioned by manufacturers.
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.
Article continues after this advertisement“If there is an intention to talk, then there’s nothing to talk about,” Mulino told a weekly press conference.
FEATURED STORIES BUSINESS PH officially drops World Bank loan for Customs modernization project BUSINESS What happens next to workers at BYD's site in Brazil? BUSINESS For German 'sick leave detective', business is booming“The canal is Panamanian and belongs to Panamanians. There’s no possibility of opening any kind of conversation around this reality, which has cost the country blood, sweat and tears,” he added.
READ: Panamanians protest ‘public enemy’ Trump’s canal threat
Article continues after this advertisementThe 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.
Article continues after this advertisementTrump on Saturday slammed what he called unfair fees for US ships passing through the canal and hinted at China’s growing influence.
Article continues after this advertisementIf Panama could not ensure “the secure, efficient and reliable operation” of the channel, “then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question,” he said.
best slots to play online for real moneyMulino said the usage fees were “not set at the whim of the president or the administrator” of the interoceanic waterway, but under a long-established “public and open process.”
Article continues after this advertisement“There is absolutely no Chinese interference or participation in anything to do with the Panama Canal,” Mulino said.
On Tuesday, dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the US embassy in Panama City chanting “Trump, animal, leave the canal alone” and burning an image of the incoming American president.
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
