Panama president calls Trump's talk of 'reclaiming' the Panama Canal a lie
A cargo ship goes through the Panama Canal's Cocoli locks in Panama City on Feb. 21. Credit: AP/Matias Delacroix
PANAMA CITY — Panama President José Raúl Mulino on Wednesday accused U.S. President Donald Trump of lying when he said in his address to Congress that his administration was “reclaiming” the Panama Canal.
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 Chinese group that operates ports at both ends of the Panama Canal.
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.
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