US troops to deploy to Panama Canal bases under new deal

PANAMA CITY: US troops will be allowed to use a series of military bases along the Panama Canal for training and other operations under a new agreement between Washington and Panama, in a move seen as part of President Donald Trump’s push to regain influence over the strategic waterway.

The agreement, signed by top security officials from both countries, allows US military personnel to deploy to Panama-controlled facilities for training, exercises and "other activities".

The deal stops short of allowing the United States to build its own permanent bases on the isthmus, a move that would be deeply unpopular with Panamanians and legally fraught.

However, it gives the United States broad authority to deploy an unspecified number of personnel to bases — some of which Washington built when it occupied the canal zone decades ago.

Since returning to power in January, Trump has repeatedly claimed that China wields too much influence over the canal, which handles around 40 percent of US container traffic and five percent of global trade.

His administration has pledged to "take back" control of the strategic waterway that the United States funded, built, and controlled until 1999.

The United States has long taken part in military exercises in Panama.

However, a longer-term rotational force — similar to the one the United States maintains in Darwin, Australia — could prove politically toxic for Panama’s centre-right leader, José Raúl Mulino.

‘Country on fire’

Mulino was in Peru on Thursday, where he revealed that the United States had asked to have its own bases.

Mulino said he told visiting Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth that US bases, allowed under an earlier draft, would be “unacceptable”.

He warned Hegseth: “Do you want to create a mess? What we’ve put in place here would set the country on fire.”

In the watered-down "Memorandum of Understanding", signed by Hegseth and Panama’s security chief Frank Ábrego on Wednesday, Panama secured its own concessions.

The United States recognised Panama’s sovereignty — not a given following Trump’s refusal to rule out an invasion — and Panama will retain control over any installations.

Panama will also need to approve any deployments.

But given Trump’s willingness to tear up or rewrite trade deals, treaties and agreements, that might offer little comfort to worried Panamanians.

The country has a long and complicated relationship with the United States.

They share close cultural and economic ties, despite the decades-long US occupation of the canal zone and the US invasion 35 years ago to overthrow dictator Manuel Noriega.

That invasion killed more than 500 Panamanians and razed parts of the capital.

Trump’s vow to reclaim the canal, and his claim of Chinese influence, have sparked mass demonstrations.

By law, Panama operates the canal with open access to all nations.

However, the US president has zeroed in on the role of a Hong Kong company that has operated ports at either end of the canal — linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans — for decades.

Under pressure from the White House, Panama has accused the Panama Ports Company of failing to meet its contractual obligations and pushed for the firm to withdraw from the country.

The ports’ parent company, CK Hutchison, announced last month a deal to offload 43 ports in 23 countries — including its two on the Panama Canal — to a consortium led by US asset manager BlackRock for $19 billion in cash.

An enraged Beijing has since announced an antitrust review of the deal.