House Republican bill would pave way for Trump to acquire Panama Canal for US

Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) will introduce a bill that would authorize the president to purchase the Panama Canal and put it under U.S. control, an acquisition that President-elect Trump has been pushing over the last several weeks.

Johnson plans to introduce the Panama Canal Repurchase Act on Thursday, The Hill has learned.

“President Trump is right to consider repurchasing the Panama Canal. China’s interest in and presence around the canal is a cause for concern,” Johnson said in a statement. “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.”

The bill 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 draft text shared with The Hill.

Trump in December had complained about the deal signed by former President Carter, saying that he “foolishly gave it away, for One Dollar.” That is an apparent reference to the symbolic sale of the canal that was accompanied by numerous other provisions in the Carter-Torrijos Treaties signed in 1977 that transferred control of the canal to Panama. An initial draft of Johnson’s bill authorized re-acquisition of the canal for the symbolic amount of $1.

The bill also directs the president to submit a report to Congress within 180 days of passage “detailing the progress of the negotiations” as well as the “potential challenges” and “anticipated outcomes.” Fox News first reported Johnson's plans to introduce the bill.

Trump on Tuesday refused to commit to not using the U.S. military to take control of the Panama Canal.

“I’m not going to commit to that. It might be that you have to do something,” Trump said in a press conference from Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. “Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country, it’s being operated by China, China. And we gave the Panama Canal to Panama, we didn’t give it to China.”

Despite Johnson’s bill, the idea of the U.S. taking control of the Panama Canal — as well as acquiring Greenland — is facing skepticism from other Capitol Hill Republicans.

“I think he was speaking aspirationally,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said recently about Trump’s ambitions of taking control of the Panama Canal and Greenland.