On this week’s broadcast of “Sunday Morning Futures,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said President Donald Trump is stopping the Chinese government from taking over the Panama Canal.
Hegseth said, “Well, President Trump said at a State of the Union address, China has too much influence over the Panama Canal, and America is gonna take it back, and that’s exactly what I was charged to do, what we’re continuing to do. Chinese influence cannot control our own backyard, especially a critical waterway key terrain like the Panama Canal.”
He continued, “75% of ships are going to or from a port, so we were able to secure two historic agreements, one with the Panama Canal Authority that you are to ships, military vessels and auxiliary vessels will travel first and free through that canal. And we also signed a memorandum of understanding with the defense secretary over there and the president that established a robust and growing U.S. presence. You need to secure that key terrain. So Fort Sherman will reopen jointly with the Panamanians and is going to have a larger U.S. presence at the invitation of Panama, working with them to keep the communist Chinese out. If we can’t use that waterway in a key contingency, China has an advantage. We’ve been asleep at the wheel. President Trump has said we need to be serious about our own backyard.”
Hegseth added, “I want to thank President Molina, a pro-Trump, pro-America president of Panama who’s sticking his neck out against communists, whose influence was real there. Maria, we could see it; you could feel it. The communist Chinese want to control politicians. They’re building infrastructure projects. They want to surveil. They want to take that canal. President Trump says not on our watch and we are fighting back.”
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