“The United States, I mean think of this, spent more money than ever spent on a project before and lost 38,000 lives in the building of the Panama Canal.” There were multiple attempts to build ...

The neutrality of the nearly 50-mile canal, through which nearly 15,000 ships transit each year, is enshrined in Panama’s Constitution and is enforced by the autonomous Panama Canal Authority.

Trump has suggested using military force to retake the Panama Canal, but such an action would involve complications.

Trump recalled how the US pumped money into the construction of the canal, which former President Jimmy Carter handed back to Panama in 1977, and contended, “We have been treated very badly from ...