Frequent droughts have pushed authorities to pursue a controversial plan to dam a river to save the waterway — an act that would flood the homes of thousands of people.

Since returning to office, President Trump has made repeated claims that China operates the Panama Canal and threatened to take it back from the Panama Canal Authority, which has controlled it since 1999.

The U.S. president has announced several times in recent weeks that he intends to «bring back» the Panama Canal. His words bring back bad memories.

Donald Trump has begun his second term as president by ramping up pressure on Panama – threatening to “take back” the Panama Canal and accusing the country of ceding control of the strategically critical waterway to a US rival: China.