Panama complains to U.N. over Trump canal threat, starts audit

Panama complains to U.N. over Trump's threat to seize Panama Canal, launches audit of Hong Kong-linked operator.

Panama has complained to the United Nations over U.S. President Donald Trump's "worrying" threat to seize the Panama Canal, even as it launched an audit of the Hong Kong-linked operator of two ports on the interoceanic waterway.

In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the government in Panama City referred to an article of the U.N. Charter precluding any member from "the threat or use of force" against the territorial integrity or political independence of another.

The missive, distributed to reporters on Tuesday (January 21, 2025), urges Mr. Guterres to refer the matter to the U.N. Security Council, without asking for a meeting to be convened.

Mr. Trump, in his inaugural address Monday, repeated his complaint that China was effectively "operating" the Panama Canal through its growing presence around the waterway, which the United States handed over at the end of 1999.

"We didn't give it to China, we gave it to Panama. And we're taking it back," Mr. Trump said.

Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino hit back that the canal was not a gift from the United States during a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"We reject in its entirety everything that Mr Trump has said. First because it is false and second because the Panama Canal belongs to Panama and will continue to belong to Panama," Mr. Mulino said on Wednesday (January 22, 2025).