Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino hit back at Donald Trump after the president-elect said he would demand the Panama Canal be “returned” to the US if the vital waterway was not operated to his liking.
Trump’s weekend salvo and the ensuing diplomatic feud offered a taste of his chaotic brand of international politics less than a month before he returns to the White House. The president-elect attacked the Central American country over what he considered excessive fees for maritime freight to use the canal, which is vital to the US economy.
“I want to express precisely that every square metre of the Panama Canal and its adjacent area belong to PANAMA, and will continue to be. The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable”, Mulino said in a statement on Sunday.