The president of Panama is reportedly taking into consideration asking the United Nations Security Council to step in if Donald Trump continues his repeated demand that the United States regain control of the Panama Canal.
Trump has still not yet reached Inauguration Day, but his territorial ambitions have already sparked Panamanian President José Mulino to issue his own threat at the incoming American president, Politico reported, citing Panama’s former President Ernesto Balladares.
But Mulino is waiting until Trump is officially sworn into office to determine whether his international bluster that includes fantasies of various land possessions – including Greenland and Canada – continues.
“He said he will take more actions after January 20 … if President-elect Trump insists on the issue,” Balladares told Politico.
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The former Panamanian president said his successor laid out his plans to him at Panama’s presidential palace during a gathering held on Wednesday that included a meeting between Latin American leaders and Venezuela’s opposition leader Edmundo González,” according to the report.
“Like everybody else in this country he’s surprised,” Balladares told the publication of Mulino’s response to Trump’s threats.
The remarks came the same week that Trump stunned observers when he said he’d be willing to use military force to take back the Panama Canal during a rambling news conference at his Mar-a-Lago golf resort. Notably, the U.S. ceded the territory to Panama as part of a 1977 treaty with the country.
Mulino last month forcefully pushed back at Trump’s claims that Chinese soldiers have been operating the canal. "There are no Chinese soldiers in the canal, for the love of God,” Mulino said at a December news briefing. “It's nonsense. There is not a single Chinese soldier in the canal.”
Panama holds “a non-permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council in 2025 and 2026,” according to Politico.