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President Donald Trump said during his Tuesday speech in Washington, D.C., to a Joint Session of Congress that America will be “reclaiming” the Panama Canal.
The comments emphasized the effort as part of enhancing the nation’s security and blasted China’s attempts to take control of the waterway.
“To further enhance our national security, my administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we’ve already started doing it,” Trump stated.
“Just today, a large American company announced they are buying both ports around the Panama Canal and lots of other things having to do with the Panama Canal and a couple of other canals. The Panama Canal was built by Americans for Americans, not for others. But others could use it,” he continued.
The company Trump referred to was BlackRock, which announced on Tuesday that it was buying majority stakes in ports on both sides of the canal for $22.8 billion.
“Under the BlackRock agreement with CK Hutchison, Panama Ports would give 90% interest to BlackRock’s new infrastructure arm Global Infrastructure Partners and Geneva-based Terminal Investment,” Newsmax reported.
The deal also includes CK Hutchison’s controlling interest in 43 other ports in 23 countries, according to the report.
Trump’s speech also noted the many Americans who died in building the Panama Canal.
“But it was built at tremendous cost of American blood and treasure. 38,000 workers died building the Panama Canal. They died of malaria. They died of snakebites and mosquitoes. Not a nice place to work,” he said during his speech.
“They paid them very highly to go there, knowing there was a 25% chance that they would die. The most expensive project also that was ever built in our country’s history if you bring it up to modern-day costs. It was given away by the Carter administration for $1. But that agreement has been violated very severely,” he added. “We didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”
In a January survey, over two-thirds of GOP voters supported Trump’s interest in America taking over Greenland and the Panama Canal, according to a Rasmussen Reports survey.
A total of 73 percent of Republicans supported U.S. control of the Panama Canal, with 51 percent strongly supporting the action. In contrast, only 22 percent of Democrats supported American control of the Panama Canal.
Overall, 40 percent backed the purchase of Greenland, with 43 percent supporting U.S. control of the Panama Canal.