English version<\/a> of the statement,\u00a0released by the Pentagon, did not include that phrasing regarding Panama\u2019s control over the waterway.<\/p>\nThe discrepancy comes after earlier rhetoric from President Trump, who threatened that Washington would take over the waterway as a way to secure it from Chinese control. Panama, however, denies that Beijing controls the vital shipping lane.<\/p>\n
Hegseth said Wednesday the U.S. was \u201chelping to take back the Panama Canal from communist Chinese influence,” with the two signing agreements to deepen security cooperation between the two countries.<\/p>\n
He appeared to dodge a question of whether the U.S. recognizes Panama’s sovereignty over the canal, saying, \u201cWe certainly understand that the Panama Canal is in Panama, and protecting Panamanian sovereignty from malign influence is important.\u201d<\/p>\n
He explained that when Trump has said the U.S. would take back the Panama Canal, what he means is \u201cwe\u2019re taking back the canal from Chinese influence, that involves partnership with the United States and Panama.\u201d<\/p>\n
That partnership, he said, will involve U.S. troops training on Panamanian soil \u201cby invitation through rotational, joint exercises.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abrego, meanwhile, said Panama would not allow permanent U.S. military bases on its soil but would \u201ckeep a cooperation in terms of security with the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roughly $270 billion a year in U.S. goods, or about 40 percent of American container traffic, passes through the Panama Canal annually.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hegseth\u2019s visit, the first visit by a Pentagon chief to Panama in decades, reveal Trump\u2019s continued fixation on the waterway, which has been controlled by the Central American country since1999.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump has complained the U.S. got a bad deal in handing off the shipping lane in a treaty signed during the Carter administration.<\/p>\n
As part of the U.S.-Panama agreements signed this week, the two countries pledged to work out how to compensate the U.S. for \u201cpayment of tolls and other charges,\u201d when its ship pass through the canal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Panama will also guarantee \u201cthe expedited transit of warships and auxiliary vessels of the Republic of Panama and the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Panama says the U.S. government has recognized the country\u2019s sovereignty over the Panama Canal, but it\u2019s unclear if Washington fully agrees with that assertion. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, after meeting in private with Panama\u2019s top officials in the country on Tuesday, \u201cacknowledged the sovereignty of Panama over the Panama Canal,\u201d Minister for Public Security Frank Abrego told reporters in a press conference alongside the Pentagon chief on Wednesday.\u00a0 And in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":719,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions\/719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}