Trump Pushes for Control of Panama Canal, Military Options on Table

President Donald Trump has said repeatedly he wants to “take back” the Panama Canal, which is located at the narrowest part of the isthmus between North and South America and is considered one of the world’s most strategically important waterways, but he has not offered specifics about how he would do so, or if military action might be required.

One US official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said a document, described as an interim national security guidance by the new administration, called on the military to look at military options to safeguard access to the Panama Canal.

The Pentagon last published a National Defense Strategy in 2022, a document which lays out the priorities for the military. An interim document sets out broad policy guidance, much like Trump’s executive orders and public remarks have done, ahead of a more considered policy document like a formal NDS.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump has asserted that the U.S. needs to take back the canal because China controls it and could use the waterway to undermine American interests. In his inaugural speech in January, Trump repeated accusations that Panama has broken the promises it made for the final transfer of the canal in 1999.

Any move by a foreign power to take the canal by force would almost certainly violate international law.

The US and Panama are treaty-bound to defend the canal against any threat to its neutrality and are permitted to take unilateral action to do so.

The US acquired the rights to build and operate the canal in the early 20th century. In a treaty signed in 1979, during the administration of Democratic President Jimmy Carter, the US agreed to turn over control of the canal to Panama at the close of 1999.

Source: Reuters