{"id":70816,"date":"2025-04-10T13:23:04","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T13:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/04\/10\/seeking-reset-hegseth-affirms-panamas-sovereignty-over-canal\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:16:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:16:50","slug":"seeking-reset-hegseth-affirms-panamas-sovereignty-over-canal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2025\/04\/10\/seeking-reset-hegseth-affirms-panamas-sovereignty-over-canal\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeking reset, Hegseth affirms Panama\u2019s sovereignty over canal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PANAMA CITY \u2014 Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth sought to reassure Panama that the United States recognizes its sovereignty over the national canal, amid President Donald Trump\u2019s repeated pledge that America would reclaim it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe certainly respect the sovereignty of the Panamanians,\u201d Hegseth said before departing the country back to Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier Wednesday, Hegseth faced questions in a press conference about the two countries\u2019 joint statement following their meetings Tuesday. Panama\u2019s version included a line about its sovereignty over the canal; America\u2019s didn\u2019t, though it discussed working through Panama\u2019s constitution, which affirms authority over the canal itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The impasse brought back concern that the U.S. was reneging on its agreement ceding the canal to Panamanian control, finalized in 1999 after a 20-year handover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump has disparaged that deal and said multiple times that America would take the canal back \u2014 even saying in a March address to Congress that the U.S. was already \u201creclaiming\u201d the waterway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Panama\u2019s President Raul Mulino publicly denied the claims and referred to them as an insult on the country\u2019s dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2025\/04\/09\/hegseth-vows-us-will-take-back-panama-canal-from-chinese-influence\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2208639931.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Hegseth vows US will \u2018take back\u2019 Panama canal from Chinese influence<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Panama&#039;s president has denied claims by U.S. President Donald Trump that America is literally retaking the canal.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hegseth\u2019s visit this week worked to calm any such tension. In carefully planned remarks, he referenced Panama\u2019s value as a partner and its long history with the U.S., including on building the canal in the early 1900s. He also signed agreements to increase America\u2019s military work with the country through further training and rotating in more U.S. forces and equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe acknowledged the sovereignty of Panama over the Panama Canal,\u201d Frank Abrego, Panama\u2019s minister of public security, said of Hegseth at the press conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking to traveling press on the flight back to Washington, senior defense officials didn\u2019t specify how many further American troops would enter the country, nor give a timeline for their arrival. They also didn\u2019t elaborate on plans Hegseth previewed to renew Fort Sherman, the U.S. military\u2019s now-abandoned jungle fighting school in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Any further dispatch of U.S. troops to Panama would first require consensus with Panama\u2019s government, said one of the defense officials, allowed to speak anonymously to describe the agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In return, Panama\u2019s government expressed interest in American help protecting the canal from cyberattacks and surveilling it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. once had a large military presence inside Panama, though it was drawn down heavily during the canal handover. The number of American troops in the country now rises and falls from a few dozen to a couple hundred, depending on exercises and training programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In late 1989, America\u2019s military launched a two-month operation to depose Panama\u2019s then-President Manuel Noriega. The invasion has left scars for many in the country today, wary of U.S. coercion and, perhaps, another attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s extraordinary sensitivities at hand,\u201d the first defense official said, noting that any suggestion \u2014 by China or America \u2014 of infringing on Panama\u2019s sovereignty over the canal is a \u201cnon-starter\u201d in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the same time, the officials said, the Trump administration is increasingly concerned about the drift of Panama, and Latin America as a whole, toward what it calls \u201cChina\u2019s malign influence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">China\u2019s government has vastly expanded its trade and investment relationship with the region, including through the Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure program American officials say includes predatory lending practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the trip, Hegseth added a clause to Trump\u2019s pledge to take the canal back, soothing concerns that the U.S. military was developing plans to seize the waterway, reported by multiple outlets in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTogether, we are going to take back the canal from China\u2019s influence,\u201d Hegseth said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mulino pulled Panama from the Belt and Road Initiative this February, the same month U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made an earlier visit to the country. Hegseth mentioned his respect for Mulino\u2019s leadership multiple times on the trip, and the secretary\u2019s team described the president as a long-term partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Trump administration has said the U.S. will focus more intently on Latin America, including through the American military, which surged troops and warships for immigration missions since January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In turn, Hegseth repeatedly called the Panama Canal \u201ckey terrain\u201d and affirmed America\u2019s commitment to maintain its access to it \u2014 repeated in the two countries\u2019 joint statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Around 40% of U.S. container traffic passes through the Panama Canal each year alongside about 100 American Navy vessels, a number that would surely increase if a war began in the Pacific.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWe certainly respect the sovereignty of the Panamanians,\u201d the U.S. defense secretary said before departing the country back to Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":119888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"}}},"categories":[160,11,36,19,48],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3458],"class_list":["post-70816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-global","category-newsletters","category-pentagon","category-the-americas"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ID35DD4PQNHQJO2B5YVGESKP2Q","arc_canonical_url":"\/pentagon\/2025\/04\/10\/seeking-reset-hegseth-affirms-panamas-sovereignty-over-canal\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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