President Donald Trump said on Saturday that all U.S. ships should be able to travel through the Panama and Suez canals for free, adding that he has already instructed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to make it happen.
“American Ships, both Military and Commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the Panama and Suez Canals! Those Canals would not exist without the United States of America. I’ve asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to immediately take care of, and memorialize, this situation!” Trump posted on Truth Social on Saturday.
The Panama Canal has been a source of concern for Trump and his administration, who see China as having an inordinate amount of influence on the key waterway. During a visit to Panama in early April, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stressed that “the Panama Canal and the canal areas cannot and will not be controlled by China.”
“China’s military has too large of a presence in the Western Hemisphere,” he added.
In the same visit, Hegseth met with Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, and the two reached an agreement allowing the “expedited transit of warships and auxiliary vessels of the Republic of Panama and the United States.”
The Suez Canal, located in Egypt and connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, is another key waterway. According to the think tank Atlantic Council, it sees 12% to 15% of worldwide trade and about 30% of global container traffic pass through it each year.
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Shipping volume in the canal has recently decreased, however, as the Yemeni Houthis attacked ships passing through it in 2023 and 2024. The threat of attacks forced ships to avoid the Suez Canal entirely, instead taking the longer route around the southern coast of Africa.
The United States has been targeting the Houthis aggressively since Trump entered office in January, most recently launching strikes on Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.