Consider This from NPR - The people and the waterway at the center of the Panama Canal

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

The Panama Canal has sat at the center of global trade for more than a century, connecting two oceans. The things Americans use every day pass through here, from gas to food. And now, this spot is also at the center of President Trump's global expansionist agenda.Secretary of State Marco Rubio has just wrapped up a trip to Panama where he told the President that if China's influence over the canal isn't curbed the United States will take measures to protect its rights.Trump's threat to take back the Panama Canal has the potential to reshuffle global politics. We're meet the people and the 51-mile waterway in the middle of it all.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.orgEmail us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

When President Donald Trump started talking about taking back the Panama Canal right around Christmas, there was a lot of reaction from people in Panama. Diplomatic but firm statements from the president, chants and American flag burning in the streets, and also memes. We get angry. But it's also funny, because come on. That is Joel Diaz and Jessica Salado. They're members of the super popular Panamanian satire group called El Gainazo.

That name refers to the black vultures that are all over Panama City. Now the vulture is definitely not the national bird, but unlike the majestic harpy eagle that is on Panama's crest, the vultures are actually part of people's everyday lives. Here's Yesica. What El Gallinazo does is that it's like a translator of very important and serious news, but in a Panamanian slang. So everyone can be like informed, but entertained at the same time. We met the team at El Gallinazo's offices in Panama City,

and we came here to find out how Trump's threats are resonating with the people who could face the most severe consequences if he follows through. And we're here at a time when Panama is in the global spotlight. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio just wrapped up a visit to deliver and perhaps clarify Trump's message about the canal.

We love controversial content. So, this office is like a goldmine. One of the group's illustrators is Esperanza Villalobos. She recently drew an image of President Trump as a baby, pointing at the Panama Canal and crying, I want that one. I think it's funny because we're looking at our politicians and we believe that our politicians are low material IQ intelligence.

You think your politicians are dumb. Yeah. So when these kind of things happen, because when we are talking about our politicians every day, people in the comments are like, yeah, we're nothing like USA. They are intelligent and we are nothing compared to them. And now when this happens, it's like, yeah, we're the same. We have the same kind of material of politicians. They are funny everywhere.

Politicians all around the world share some of the same qualities is what you're saying? Yes. So what did you actually do with that material? What was the meme that you created? We have this meme that it says, it's from the movie Zoolander. Zoolander. Yeah, saying like, Panama is so hot right now.

Estamos pegados. Like, we're in the mud of everyone. We're hot. Yeah. There's a common expression in the United States, which is, you have to laugh because if you don't, you'll cry. And I wonder if that kind of describes the moment that you all are in right now. Yeah. Yeah, totally. Also I find a lot of peace in the chaos when

when something bad happens to you and you feel like why me and then you open a meme and you see the comments and you feel like, oh, this is affecting everyone. You find peace when it's a collective thing. Consider this. Trump's threat to take back the Panama Canal has the potential to reshuffle global politics. We'll meet the people and a 51-mile waterway in the middle of it all. From NPR, I'm Ari Shapiro. It's Consider This from NPR.

Right now, I am in a building in what used to be known as the Panama Canal Zone. It's just steps from the waterway. This spot has sat at the center of global trade for more than a century, connecting two oceans. The things Americans use every day pass through here from gasoline to food. And now this spot is also at the center of president Trump's global expansionist agenda.

Monday morning, secretary of State Marco Rubio wrapped up a visit to Panama, and here's what his boss, President Trump, said on Sunday. China's running the Panama Canal. That was not given to China. That was given to Panama foolishly, but they violated the agreement, and we're gonna take it back

or something very powerful is going to happen. His claim that China operates the canal is false, and we'll dig into that more in a minute. When Rubio woke up here in Panama City yesterday morning, he went to services at a church where cameras were not allowed. But a different Sunday morning service live-streamed into Panamanians' homes all over the country. Archbishop José Domingo Ulloa offered a homily that gives you a sense of how Panamanians are feeling right now.

Sovereignty and the good name of Panama are not given away or negotiated, he said from the pulpit. They are defended with determination and love for the homeland. Trump's focus on the canal has brought out a nationalistic streak here in Panama. The country's flag flutters along roadsides, on buildings and in front yards. Panamanians told me they don't even see this many flags on Independence Day. After Sunday morning services, Secretary Rubio met with Panama's President José Raúl Molino. Here's how the president described that meeting.

I didn't feel any sense of controversy, just a climate of respect, he said. The State Department described things differently. According to a spokesperson's statement, Rubio told Molino that President Trump has made a preliminary determination that China has too much influence over the canal, which he says violates international treaties. The statement continued, quote, absent immediate changes, it would require the United States to take measures necessary to protect its rights. Rubio did not comment publicly on the meeting.

President Molino told reporters he's happy to discuss immigration and drug trafficking, but the canal is not up for debate. The sovereignty of Panama is not in question. That is very important. Panama's sovereignty is not in question. That is very important, he said. Panamanians will tell you that this fight is about identity, neocolonialism, and whether strong countries can push around weaker ones.

And that may all be true, but, narrowly speaking, this fight is specifically about a 51-mile waterway that is essential to global commerce. Forty percent of U.S. maritime traffic passes through this canal. Panama fully took control of the passage in 1999. But when President Jimmy Carter signed those treaties back in 1977, he said the agreements showed the kind of leader he wanted the U.S. to be. They marked the commitment of the United States to the belief that fairness and not force should lie at the heart of our dealings with the nations of the world.

That line about fairness, not force, is so meaningful to Panama, it is actually on a metal plaque at the base of a statue in the heart of this city. In 2016, Panama expanded the canal, and now about 35 ships pass through daily. The U.S. accounts for more than three quarters of the traffic. This is one of the few places in the world where you actually want to be on a sinking ship. Be welcome to one of the wonders of the world. Be welcome to the Panama Canal. The visitor center at the Miraflores Locks may be the best place to see the canal in action. Picture three enormous steps. Millions of gallons of water flood into or out of the locks to float massive ships one step at a time from

the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic or vice versa. Tourists from all over the world come here. Most of the Panamanians you meet at the Miraflores locks are hosting folks from out of town like Edwin Scott who brought a friend from Mexico to show off his country's pride and joy. For a Panamanian there's just no, he says. The canal is the most important institution we have. He believes this fight isn't really about Panama. He thinks his country just had the bad luck to get caught between two giants, the U.S. and China. I think Mr. Trump has this psychosis with Chinese people. There aren't Chinese people in the canal, he says.

What do you think will happen? I don't know, because he's obsessed with the Chinese people, Scott says. So back to China's role here. There is no truth to Trump's claim that China operates the canal. But a company based in Hong Kong called CK Hutchinson Holdings operates two of the five ports surrounding the canal.

We asked the company for an interview and they declined. We also requested interviews with the canal authority, Secretary Rubio, the president of Panama, and the mayor of Panama City. The fact that none of them agreed may be a sign of just how delicate this moment is. So to clarify some of the facts here, I called Ambassador John Feely. He's a career diplomat and former U.S. ambassador to Panama. Appointed late in the Obama administration, he stayed in the role for two years under Trump. He still knows lots of people in Panama, and he says this controversy caught them all off guard.

And so I'm telling the Panamanians that they need to take this deadly seriously. He says he's been warning about China's influence in Latin America since at least 2017. I tried to get the Trump administration to pay a lot more attention to Panama's recognition of Beijing, and I got nothing. So without being inflammatory, what is the threat that China poses to the United States in Panama?

The threat is not military. The two port concessions that a Hong Kong based company operate do not have the military logistical capability to shut the canal down. The canal is run by an independent agency in Panama. He says the threat from China is more subtle. It's about economic engagement, and it stretches far beyond the Panama Canal to places all over the region where China is investing and the US is not.

In protests all over the city, Panamanians made their feelings clear. In one, construction workers burned an American flag in the middle of a major street. At another, a woman showed up at the finish line pushing a cart. She shaved a massive block of ice into snow cones topped with condensed milk and fruit syrups.

The teachers union organized this demonstration. The canal is ours, says a high school art teacher named Marlenis Núñez. He'll have to kill us all, she says. We are small, but we have a huge heart. You are a teacher. You are not a teacher. You are not a soldier.

No, but I'm willing to defend my canal, she says. Panama was the first country Rubio visited as Secretary of State, but he kept a low profile, saying nothing publicly about the canal through all of his meetings and events yesterday. By the time he did say something on the record about the canal, he was in El Salvador and he mostly reiterated what President Trump had already said. This episode was produced by Karen Zamora, Alejandro Marquez-Hanse, Rolando Arriera, Andrea Salcedo, and Connor Donovan. It was edited by Courtney Dornig and Sammy Yenigan, who's also our executive producer. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Ari Shapiro.