In one of his recent ravings, he held that if it weren’t for the US, the Suez and Panama canals would not exist; therefore, US commercial and military vessels should be allowed to pass through them free of charge!
It is true that the US built the Panama Canal and continued to operate it under the 1903 agreement with Panama. According to that arrangement, the US paid Panama $10 million down and $250,000 per year for the lease. However, that agreement ended by mutual consent and, in 1999, control and sovereignty over the canal reverted to Panama, which now operates it independently.
As for the Suez Canal, the US had nothing whatsoever to do with its construction or operations. Egyptians began digging that strategic waterway in 1859. Construction lasted a full decade during which the US was preoccupied with its Civil War and the aftermath. It would be decades before Washington made its entry onto the international stage as a world power. In fact, the concept of the Statue of Liberty – the draped woman holding a beacon who has become the iconic symbol of the US – was originally intended for the entrance to the Suez Canal, not New York Harbour.
So how did Trump come up with the notion that the US should be entitled to free or preferential passage through the Suez Canal, because without the US the canal wouldn’t exist? Perhaps it’s pointless to ask this. He appears not to know some of the most elementary history lessons that children are taught in schools. So, he probably doesn’t know that when France, which did propose the Suez Canal project to Egypt, together with the UK and Israel tried to occupy the canal in 1956, they met with a stunning defeat.
Still, we shouldn’t take everything Trump says too seriously. His demand for free passage through the Panama Canal is a step back from full ownership which he was demanding some weeks ago. Trump doesn’t operate according to principles. He’s like a street market trader who sets an outrageous asking price, then accepts whatever deal his haggling can get. That’s the sorry state of the US today.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 8 May, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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