Trump Says US Won’t Let China Take Panama Canal

Speaking at the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota, on Wednesday (local time), Trump criticized the decision to cede control of the canal under the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Accords, which resulted in Panama taking full control in 1999.

“They gave away the Panama Canal, and we gave it away. The first thing they did was, do you know what they did? They quadrupled the prices of ships and didn’t lose a single ship. Then they raised the prices again twice and didn’t lose a single ship. All they did was make enormous amounts of money over the years. How stupid was that?” Trump said.

“And now China is trying to take over the Panama Canal, and we’re not going to let it happen, okay?” he added.

Trump also renewed his criticism of the Supreme Court’s approach to birthright, arguing that the constitutional provision was actually intended to protect the children of formerly enslaved people after the Civil War, not the children of wealthy foreign nationals.

“We’re going to deal with birthright citizenship because it wasn’t for rich people from other countries. It was for the babies of slaves,” Trump said, adding that he believed the court “got it wrong.”

The US president also praised the recent Supreme Court decision expanding presidential authority to remove leaders of executive branch agencies, calling it a major victory for the presidency.

“You know, just recently, in yesterday’s decisions where we actually had a good day, other than birthright citizenship, we had something that gave the President of the United States back his tremendous power, and we won that, I think, 6 to 3,” Trump said.

“This gives power back to the president at a time when the president really needs power. I think this was the most important decision of them all,” he added.