Trump the peacemaker. Trump the warmonger. While a large part of the of the world still wonders if the new US president is one or the other, when instead it is precisely the subsistence of this uncertainty that should be alarming, in the United States there are many in the ranks of the Republican Party who already see the new president to go on the assault to defend those who are considered the national interests. One of these is the control of the Panama Canal. Not that the attempt to regaining possession of it is a novelty. The strategic waterway built at the beginning of the last century by the USA, already after the definitive return of the management of the channel to the Republic of Panama at the end of the century was at the center of the of the appetites of exponents of the American right. Crave Now expertly ridden by the Tycoon President who has explicitly spoke of a possible use of force to regain possession of the Panamanian Canal.

Even before Trump's inauguration, the congressman Republican Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, who is a member of the Committee on Transport and Infrastructure and the Committee Select Committee on China, which has the task of analyse and propose measures to counter the influence of People's Republic of China, has decided to pave the way for the new president presenting the Panama Canal Repurchase Act, a proposal of the law whose objective is the purchase of the Panama Canal. The legislative initiative was expressly submitted to following Trump's repeated declarations of the will to bring the canal back under American ownership in order to to increase national and economic security. The proposal provides for the conferral on the US president of the authorisation to start and operate, in coordination with the Secretary of State, negotiations with the Government of the Republic of Panama to regain the canal.

"President Trump - said Johnson even before that Trump would become president again - he is right to take into account the repurchase of the Panama Canal. Interests and China's presence in the canal region is a reason for concern. America must project its strength abroad: owning and operating the Panama Canal could be an important step toward a stronger America and a more Sure." Johnson recalled that in 2018, Panama was was the first Latin American country to join the Belt and Road Initiative, and since then the investments of the Chinese companies in the canal infrastructure have increased, Chinese companies that also manage the two ports on both sides mouth of the canal.

The Republican congressman then recalled that 72% of all transits through the Panamanian Canal are made by ships coming from or going to a U.S. port and that the canal is also an essential transit route for ships of the U.S. Coast Guard and the Department of Defense. Stressing that a possible blockade of transits in the canal of Panama would force maritime shipments to travel 8,000 miles around South America, Johnson has made also an economic issue, highlighting that the more than 10,000 ships who annually cross the Panama Canal pay billions of toll dollars that, if the canal ownership were would benefit America.

In Panama, where members of the government in office have not yet commented on Johnson's bill, to reject it as "legally impossible and operationally useless" is was Nivia Rossana Castrellón, former Deputy Foreign Minister of Panama. "When the United States transferred control total of the canal in Panama on December 31, 1999 - said Castrellón - it was not a simple act administrative. This transfer represented the implementation of a sophisticated legal framework that makes practically impossible any attempt at reversibility, through three levels of legal protection: first of all - it has explained - Panama's constitution declares the canal a "inalienable heritage" of the nation, which means that it cannot be sold, transferred or transferred in no circumstances. Changing this provision would require Therefore a modification of the constitutional charter. Secondly, the Treaty on Permanent Neutrality and the Functioning of the Panama Canal, signed by Panama and the United States and approved from 40 countries, in force in perpetuity, establishes Panama as the only guarantor of the neutrality and functioning of the channel. This international treaty, to which the United States is a party, does not provide for mechanisms to transfer administration to countries Third. As a signatory to this treaty, the United States is legally required to respect Panama's role as the sole channel administrator. Thirdly, Panamanian law contains an operational framework that ensures its operation under Panamanian control, creating a which has proven to be remarkably effective".

"At a time when the stability of the routes is more important than ever - continued Castrellón - the "buyback" proposals not only ignore insurmountable legal barriers, but they also ignore a fundamental reality: the Panama Canal functioning efficiently under his current administration, acting as a neutral point for global maritime transit. The concern about Chinese influence, although legitimate in the most broad geopolitical context, does not affect independence and channel neutrality".