Donald Trump and the Panama Canal

[Dale]

President Trump says that we need to take back the Panama Canal for military reasons.

The Panama Canal was completed in 1914. Troops were sent overseas using ships, while today troops are often sent on planes. The military’s C-17 Globemaster III can carry 102 troops at a time. The Globemaster can also handle most military equipment, even landing at bases in combat zones. Our largest and heaviest tanks can be transported by air, with some complications.

The military has contracts with over twenty civilian airlines, a program known as CRAF, the Civil Reserve Air Fleet Program. The Pentagon will always be able to move troops when necessary.

The US has eleven aircraft carriers that are too large for the Panama Canal, and will soon have more. Ten of these are Nimitz Class Carriers, which are 252 feet wide at their widest point. One is a Ford Class Carrier, which is 256 feet wide at the flight deck. The maximum width for a ship going through the Panama Canal is 93 feet six inches. We should have another Ford Class carrier launched before the year is over.

Smaller aircraft carriers and battleships can pass through the Panama Canal with difficulty.

Why is Donald Trump obsessed with the Panama Canal? Warfare, and the world, have changed a lot since the Canal was built. We don’t need it for military purposes. In 1977, the US signed a treaty allowing Panama to take control of the Canal in 1999. For the US to try to take the Canal back would only show the world that the US doesn’t honor its treaties. That is the very thing that we have constantly accused our enemies of doing.

 

[Fantine]

Panama Canal, Greenland, Canada.

He just wants power and autocracy.

We have numerous territories that could obtain statehood first. Puerto Rico. Virgin Islands. Guam. Samoa.

 

[seeking.IAM]

Why is Donald Trump obsessed with the Panama Canal?

I think it is like a new pastor wanting to build a new wing on the church or do a major renovation as part of his legacy and leaving a mark for having been there.

 

[mark46]

President Trump says that we need to take back the Panama Canal for military reasons.

The Panama Canal was completed in 1914. Troops were sent overseas using ships, while today troops are often sent on planes. The military’s C-17 Globemaster III can carry 102 troops at a time. The Globemaster can also handle most military equipment, even landing at bases in combat zones. Our largest and heaviest tanks can be transported by air, with some complications.

The military has contracts with over twenty civilian airlines, a program known as CRAF, the Civil Reserve Air Fleet Program. The Pentagon will always be able to move troops when necessary.

The US has eleven aircraft carriers that are too large for the Panama Canal, and will soon have more. Ten of these are Nimitz Class Carriers, which are 252 feet wide at their widest point. One is a Ford Class Carrier, which is 256 feet wide at the flight deck. The maximum width for a ship going through the Panama Canal is 93 feet six inches. We should have another Ford Class carrier launched before the year is over.

Smaller aircraft carriers and battleships can pass through the Panama Canal with difficulty.

Why is Donald Trump obsessed with the Panama Canal? Warfare, and the world, have changed a lot since the Canal was built. We don’t need it for military purposes. In 1977, the US signed a treaty allowing Panama to take control of the Canal in 1999. For the US to try to take the Canal back would only show the world that the US doesn’t honor its treaties. That is the very thing that we have constantly accused our enemies of doing.

Well, the Panama Canal is no long run by a Hong Kong Company, and the many subsidiary companies involved in the ports (and many others) are no longer controlled by the Honk Company.

Blackrock has agreed to buys these businesses in a deal worth over $23B.

 

[Dale]

Well, the Panama Canal is no long run by a Hong Kong Company, and the many subsidiary companies involved in the ports (and many others) are no longer controlled by the Honk Company.

Blackrock has agreed to buys these businesses in a deal worth over $23B.

If the solution is that simple, why stir up an international crisis over it?
Even if there was a problem in the first place.

 

[mark46]

If the solution is that simple, why stir up an international crisis over it?
Even if there was a problem in the first place.

It wasn't that simple in the sense that Biden thought that it was fine the way it was.

This situation is an example of Trump's negotiation approach.

This is a major win for the US (and the Monroe Doctrine). And yes, Trump still would like to go further and take back ownership after Biden sold it to Panama for $1.00.

 

[RileyG]

I think it is like a new pastor wanting to build a new wing on the church or do a major renovation as part of his legacy and leaving a mark for having been there.

Sure.

He's well on in years.

He won't be around forever.

 

[Dale]

It wasn't that simple in the sense that Biden thought that it was fine the way it was.

This situation is an example of Trump's negotiation approach.

This is a major win for the US (and the Monroe Doctrine). And yes, Trump still would like to go further and take back ownership after Biden sold it to Panama for $1.00.

You seem to President Biden confused with Jimmy Carter. You mention “Trump’s negotiation.” Hitting the other party over the head with a baseball bat is not negotiation.

On the notion that the Panama Canal was sold for a dollar, take a look at this.

““Contrary to Donald Trump's claim, the U.S. did not sell the Panama Canal to Panama for $1.”

“False. The claim that Jimmy Carter sold the Panama Canal to Panama for one dollar is false. The transfer of the canal was part of a comprehensive diplomatic agreement, not a financial transaction. ”

Source
https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-did-jimmy-carter-sell-panama-canal-one-dollar-2007555

 

[mark46]

You seem to President Biden confused with Jimmy Carter. You mention “Trump’s negotiation.” Hitting the other party over the head with a baseball bat is not negotiation.

On the notion that the Panama Canal was sold for a dollar, take a look at this.

““Contrary to Donald Trump's claim, the U.S. did not sell the Panama Canal to Panama for $1.”

“False. The claim that Jimmy Carter sold the Panama Canal to Panama for one dollar is false. The transfer of the canal was part of a comprehensive diplomatic agreement, not a financial transaction. ”

Source
https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-did-jimmy-carter-sell-panama-canal-one-dollar-2007555

I stand corrected. Of course it was Carter.

Call it what you will. Carter handed over the Canal. What did he get in return? He got the right to defend the Canal from foreign enemies.

Torrijos–Carter Treaties - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Dale]

I stand corrected. Of course it was Carter.

Call it what you will. Carter handed over the Canal. What did he get in return? He got the right to defend the Canal from foreign enemies.

Torrijos–Carter Treaties - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

By the same logic, the British should take back India, France should take back Algeria, and Holland should take back Indonesia.

 

[mark46]

By the same logic, the British should take back India, France should take back Algeria, and Holland should take back Indonesia.

The French built Algeria?

The US built the Canal. In many countries, governments simply nationalized assets of foreign governments. Carter avoided that. Panama didn't have to nationalize the Canal. They simply had to ask for it nicely and the US gave up their asset freely.

Surely there are infrastructure projects in the Middle East that the US should give to the host countries. And them. US companies can pay exorbitant fees to us the properties that they built.

 

[Dale]

The French built Algeria?

The US built the Canal. In many countries, governments simply nationalized assets of foreign governments. Carter avoided that. Panama didn't have to nationalize the Canal. They simply had to ask for it nicely and the US gave up their asset freely.

Surely there are infrastructure projects in the Middle East that the US should give to the host countries. And them. US companies can pay exorbitant fees to us the properties that they built.

Many French would have said that the French built Algeria.
You mention nationalization but you don't mention the Canal Zone. For decades, a swath of territory in the middle of Panama was controlled by the US government. Panama didn't control their own country until they regained the Canal Zone.

 

[Dale]

The Organization of American States, OAS, does like the Panama Canal treaty that gave the Canal Zone and the Panama Canal to Panama. Every country in the Western Hemisphere is a member of the OAS. As I understand it, Cuba is theoretically a member but isn’t allowed to participate until it becomes more democratic. That leaves 34 participating member states.

“Commending the peoples of the United States and Panama, the Organization of American States (OAS) member countries said today that the 25th anniversary of the Panama Canal Treaties between those two states underscores the triumph of goodwill and cooperation and stands as a great example to the Americas and the world at large.”

Source
https://www.oas.org/en/media_center/press_release.asp?sCodigo=E-169/04

 

[iarwain]

““Contrary to Donald Trump's claim, the U.S. did not sell the Panama Canal to Panama for $1.”

“False. The claim that Jimmy Carter sold the Panama Canal to Panama for one dollar is false. The transfer of the canal was part of a comprehensive diplomatic agreement, not a financial transaction. ”

Source
https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-did-jimmy-carter-sell-panama-canal-one-dollar-2007555

If you read that article, it sounds like we paid them to take it.

 

[Dale]

If you read that article, it sounds like we paid them to take it.

The USA occupied territory in the middle of Panama for almost a hundred years.