In his 2nd term as president, Donald Trump has entertained proposals to acquire Greenland from Denmark, make Canada the 51st US state, and seize control of the Panama Canal - Anadolu Ajansı

In recent weeks, when he was President-elect Donald Trump publicly said that Panama should return the Panama Canal to the United States, and he would not rule out using military force to reclaim it. At his presidential Inauguration on Monday Trump doubled down on saying that his new administration was going to take back the canal.

The Panama Canal connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean, providing a crucial shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans for maritime traffic. The United States handed Panamanian control of the canal in 1999 after overseeing its construction and operation for most of the 20th century.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s insistence that he wants to have the Panama Canal back under U.S. control is feeding nationalist sentiment and worry in Panama, home to the critical trade route and a country familiar with U.

Russia warned President Trump on Tuesday against seizing the Panama Canal, after he reiterated his intent to take control of the strategic waterway in his second inaugural address Monday.

Panama’s government and President José Raúl Mulino have repeatedly denied that there is any Chinese presence at the canal.