>>22212325 lb/pb
>Guaranteed Trump's team went through the documents and negotiation that Carter signed, and there is a loophole to take it back.
The first, called the Neutrality Treaty, stated that the United States could use its military to defend the Panama Canal against any threat to its neutrality, thus allowing perpetual U.S. usage of the Canal.
https://www.state.gov/dipnote-u-s-department-of-state-official-blog/on-both-sides-of-the-canal-from-a-diplomatic-treaty-to-prosperous-relations-with-panama-2/
Carter negotiated two new treaties: 1. The United States would retain the right to defend the canal forever. 2. The Canal Zone would be turned over to Panama in 1979, and a transfer of the operation of the canal would be complete by 1999.
https://www.nps.gov/teachers/classrooms/the-panama-canal-the-ratification-of-the-carter-torrijos-treaties.htm
The United States remains the top user of the Canal—in 2019, 66 percent of the cargo traffic transiting the Canal began or ended its journey at a U.S. port; cargo from or destined to China made up 13 percent of Canal traffic. Still, China is the primary source of products going through the Colón Free Trade Zone and its increasing presence in and around the Canal has made the waterway a flashpoint for U.S.-China competition over spheres of influence. China’s influence in the Panama Canal has only grown since 2017 when then-president Carlos Varela severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan and recognized China, further opening the door to China’s expanded footprint in critical Canal infrastructure and laying the groundwork for alignment with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
In 2016, in a $900 million deal, the China-based Landbridge Group acquired control of Margarita Island, Panama’s largest port on the Atlantic side and in the Colón Free Trade Zone, the largest free trade zone in the Western Hemisphere.
Key Decision Point Coming for the Panama Canal
https://www.csis.org/analysis/key-decision-point-coming-panama-canal