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It's the 82-kilometre artery between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
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and 40% of all U.S. container traffic passes through the Panama C
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It's been in Donald Trump's sights since even before he returned to the White House
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Now his Defence Secretary Pete Hegseff has announced a deal with the Panamanian government
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authorising the deployment of U.S. troops along this strategic waterway. That's something you said we're taking back the c. China said too much influence. Obama and others let them creep in. We, along with Panama, are pushing them out, sir
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The three-year renewable agreement is seen as a major concession to Washington
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Hexeth says it includes free and priority passage for U.S. Navy vessels
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but the Panamanian government won concessions of its own, keeping control of any installations and rejecting a proposal for permanent U bases And it fending off any further ambitions Trump might have for Panama We had a hard time imposing the principle
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of Panamanian sovereignty over our territory in the Panama C. We removed the notions of permanent military presence
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of military bases, of territorial sessions, because that is unacceptable. Trump's repeated false claims that the c is run by China may be partly because a Hong Kong-based
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company, C.K. Hutchinson, has operated two of its four major ports for almost 30 years
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Last month, that company agreed to sell its concession to a consortium led by the American
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investment fund BlackRock. China spoke out against the deal, while Trump hailed it as
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a reclaiming of the c, but a twist. Earlier this week, Panama's public auditor announced
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it found irregularities in Hutchinson's contract to run the ports, and that's put the BlackRock deal in doubt
