President Donald Trump said July 1 that China is “trying to take over the Panama Canal” and vowed the United States won’t “let that happen,” folding the warning into a broader speech that called communism the greatest threat to the country.
Trump made the remarks at the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota, where he praised Roosevelt’s role in building the canal and criticized the United States’ decision to transfer it to Panama.
“Now China is trying to take over the Panama Canal, and we’re not going to let that happen,” Trump said.
The speech, which did not announce a new canal measure, came after months of U.S. statements on Chinese pressure on Panama-flagged vessels and Beijing’s role in port terminals at opposite ends of the canal….