WASHINGTON — Legislation introduced in Congress on Thursday would open the door to allowing incoming President Donald Trump to buy back the Panama Canal.
The Panama Canal Repurchase Act of 2025, introduced by U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., and referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, would authorize the president, in coordination with the secretary of state, “to initiate and conduct negotiations with appropriate counterparts of the Government of the Republic of Panama to reacquire the Panama Canal,” according to the bill’s language.
The legislation requires the president to submit a report to Congress six months after it’s enacted “detailing the progress of the negotiations” along with “potential challenges and anticipated outcomes.” The bill already has 16 co-sponsors, all Republicans
Trump in December began floating the idea of repurchasing the 51-mile-long waterway – which President Jimmy Carter signed over to Panama in a 1977 treaty that took effect in 2000 – for economic and national security reasons.
“President Trump is right to consider repurchasing the Panama Canal,” Johnson said in a press release announcing the legislation.
“China’s interest in and presence around the canal is a cause for concern. America must project strength abroad – owning and operating the Panama Canal might be an important step towards a stronger America and a more secure globe.”
Johnson’s office warned of growing influence by China in the Panama Canal region, pointing out that in 2018 Panama was the first country in Latin America to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and that Chinese-backed companies have managing rights for the two ports on each end of the canal.
“Without access to the Panama Canal, ocean shippers would be forced to travel 8,000 additional miles around South America. More than 10,000 ships use the Panama Canal each year, generating billions of dollars of tolls which would economically benefit America.”
Johnson’s office cited data from the U.S. State Department showing that 72% of all vessel transits through the canal are coming from or destined for U.S. ports. “It is also a key transit point for Coast Guard and Department of Defense vessels.”
After Trump posted on Truth Social about taking back the canal, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino dismissed Trump’s claims of growing Chinese influence over the waterway and his claims of higher fees being charged to U.S. ships to use it.
Trump underscored his interest in the canal this week when he refused to rule out using military action to take it over.
Asked at a press conference on Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida whether he would assure he would not use military or economic coercion to get control of either the Panama Canal or Greenland, Trump said, according to Reuters, “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two. But I can say this: We need them for economic security.”
Panama Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha responded by saying, “The only hands operating the canal are Panamanian, and that is how it is going to stay,” the BBC reported.
