Trump orders Pentagon to lay out ideas to ensure US's 'unfettered' access to Panam Canal: Report

US President Donald Trump has called on the Pentagon to provide military ideas and options that would ensure the United States gains full access to the Panama Canal. The revelation was made months after Trump threatened to take over the waterways, ensuing a diplomatic row with Panama. Two US officials who spoke to Reuters on Thursday revealed these manoeuvrings.

The Panama Canal is touted as the world’s most strategically important waterway. While Trump has often claimed he wants to ’take back’ the canal. However, he never offered specifics about how he would do so or if military action might be required. One US official who asked to remain anonymous told Reuters that the Trump administration asked the military to look at options to ensure “unfettered” access to the Panama Canal.

A second official said that the Pentagon has a wide range of potential options which would guarantee that the US has full access to the canal. One of the options includes a partnership with Panama ’s military. It is pertinent to note that the Department of Defence last published a national defence strategy back in 2022.

The struggle over the Panama Canal

Ever since he came back to the White House, Trump has asserted that the US should “take back” the canal. Without providing evidence, he argued that China controls the waterway and could eventually use it to undermine American interests in the region. In his inaugural speech in January, Trump accused the Latin American nation of Panama of breaking a promise for the final transfer of the canal back in 1999.

Meanwhile, Ilya Espino de Marotta, the canal’s deputy administrator, told the Guardian in January: “The canal is run by Panamanians 100%. We are an autonomous entity." “There is no Chinese management of the canal," Marotta furthered.

It is important to note that any move by a foreign power to take over the canal is most likely to cause a violation of international law. The US and Panama are already treaty-bound to defend the canal against any threat to its neutrality.

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Both countries are permitted to take unilateral actions to defend the waterways. The US acquired the rights to build and operate the canal in the early 20th century. However, in a treaty signed in 1979, under former US President Jimmy Carter , the US agreed to let Panama have control over the canal. The Latin American nation had complete control over the waterway by 1999.

With inputs from agencies.