Hegseth: US to deploy additional troops to Panama Canal

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the US plans to send more troops to the Panama Canal.

“ We provided a framework for the first transit of the Panama Canal for U.S. military ships and support vessels, as well as the additional presence of U.S. troops stationed on both sides of the Panama Canal ,” he told students at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania.

Hegseth first mentioned plans to expand the U.S. military presence in Panama on April 9 after a visit to the Central American country. The minister then spoke about what he called joint rotational exercises in Panama.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that Washington should regain control of the Panama Canal. He has criticized the high fees for transiting the Panama Canal, saying that the transfer of control of the waterway in 1999 was a gesture of cooperation and not a concession to other countries. On January 20, in his inaugural address, he declared his intention to regain control of the Panama Canal. The US leader also said, without providing evidence, that the waterway was allegedly managed by China.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said that claims that China has complete control over the canal are “absolutely false.” Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino said that sovereignty over the canal and the country’s independence are non-negotiable.

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