PANAMA CITY — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth sought to reassure Panama that the United States recognizes its sovereignty over the national canal, amid President Donald Trump’s repeated pledge that America would reclaim it.
“We certainly respect the sovereignty of the Panamanians,” Hegseth said before departing the country back to Washington.
Earlier Wednesday, Hegseth faced questions in a press conference about the two countries’ joint statement following their meetings Tuesday. Panama’s version included a line about its sovereignty over the canal; America’s didn’t, though it discussed working through Panama’s constitution, which affirms authority over the canal itself.
The impasse brought back concern that the U.S. was reneging on its agreement ceding the canal to Panamanian control, finalized in 1999 after a 20-year handover.
Trump has disparaged that deal and said multiple times that America would take the canal back — even saying in a March address to Congress that the U.S. was already “reclaiming” the waterway.
Panama’s President Raul Mulino publicly denied the claims and referred to them as an insult on the country’s dignity.
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Hegseth’s visit this week worked to calm any such tension. In carefully planned remarks, he referenced Panama’s value as a partner and its long history with the U.S., including on building the canal in the early 1900s. He also signed agreements to increase America’s military work with the country through further training and rotating in more U.S. forces and equipment.
“He acknowledged the sovereignty of Panama over the Panama Canal,” Frank Abrego, Panama’s minister of public security, said of Hegseth at the press conference.
Speaking to traveling press on the flight back to Washington, senior defense officials didn’t specify how many further American troops would enter the country, nor give a timeline for their arrival. They also didn’t elaborate on plans Hegseth previewed to renew Fort Sherman, the U.S. military’s now-abandoned jungle fighting school in the country.
Any further dispatch of U.S. troops to Panama would first require consensus with Panama’s government, said one of the defense officials, allowed to speak anonymously to describe the agreement.
In return, Panama’s government expressed interest in American help protecting the canal from cyberattacks and surveilling it.
The U.S. once had a large military presence inside Panama, though it was drawn down heavily during the canal handover. The number of American troops in the country now rises and falls from a few dozen to a couple hundred, depending on exercises and training programs.
In late 1989, America’s military launched a two-month operation to depose Panama’s then-President Manuel Noriega. The invasion has left scars for many in the country today, wary of U.S. coercion and, perhaps, another attack.
“There’s extraordinary sensitivities at hand,” the first defense official said, noting that any suggestion — by China or America — of infringing on Panama’s sovereignty over the canal is a “non-starter” in the country.
At the same time, the officials said, the Trump administration is increasingly concerned about the drift of Panama, and Latin America as a whole, toward what it calls “China’s malign influence.”
China’s government has vastly expanded its trade and investment relationship with the region, including through the Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure program American officials say includes predatory lending practices.
On the trip, Hegseth added a clause to Trump’s pledge to take the canal back, soothing concerns that the U.S. military was developing plans to seize the waterway, reported by multiple outlets in March.
“Together, we are going to take back the canal from China’s influence,” Hegseth said.
Mulino pulled Panama from the Belt and Road Initiative this February, the same month U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made an earlier visit to the country. Hegseth mentioned his respect for Mulino’s leadership multiple times on the trip, and the secretary’s team described the president as a long-term partner.
The Trump administration has said the U.S. will focus more intently on Latin America, including through the American military, which surged deployed troops and warships for immigration missions since January.
In turn, Hegseth repeatedly called the Panama Canal “key terrain” and affirmed America’s commitment to maintain its access to it — repeated in the two countries’ joint statement.
Around 40% of U.S. container traffic passes through the Panama Canal each year alongside about 100 American Navy vessels, a number that would surely increase if a war began in the Pacific.
Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.
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