Since winning re-election Trump has repeatedly returned to the idea of US territorial expansion – including taking back the Panama Canal.
During the news conference Trump said the canal “is vital to our country” and claimed “it’s being operated by China”. He previously accused Panama of overcharging US ships to use the waterway, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino has rejected Trump’s claims and said there is “absolutely no Chinese interference” in the canal.
A Hong Kong-based company, CK Hutchison Holdings, manages two ports at the canal’s entrances. The canal was built in the early 1900s and the US maintained control over the canal zone until 1977, when treaties gradually ceded the land back to Panama.
“Giving the Panama Canal to Panama was a very big mistake,” Trump said.
It’s unclear how serious the president-elect is about adding to the territory of the US, particularly when it comes to Canada, a country of 41 million people and the second-largest nation by area in the world.
During the news conference Trump said the US spends billions of dollars protecting Canada, and criticised imports of Canadian cars, lumber and dairy products.