Trump: American ships should pass through the Suez and Panama Canals for free

US President Trump said that US military and commercial vessels should be allowed to pass through the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal for free.

Trump posted the above remarks on the Social media platform "Truth Social" on Saturday (March 26). He wrote: "If there were no United States, these two shipping routes would not exist."

He has demanded that US Secretary of State Rubio deal with this matter immediately.

Reuters reported that the Suez Canal in Egypt is a key waterway connecting Europe and Asia. After the new round of the Israel-Kazakhstan conflict broke out on October 7, 2023, the Houthi armed group in Yemen, in support of the Palestinians in Gaza, has continuously launched attacks on international ships along the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden routes. Before this, the freight volume of the Suez Canal accounted for approximately 10% of global maritime trade.

The attacks by the Houthi forces forced ships to detour around the southern tip of Africa, thereby extending the voyage and pushing up the cost of freight transportation. The Egyptian side said last year that the revenue of the Suez Canal plummeted by 60% and the loss reached 7 billion US dollars.

Since January 2024, the US military has been conducting air strikes against Houthi targets. Since Trump took office on January 20 this year, the frequency of such attacks has significantly increased, with air strikes almost every day over the past month. Trump vowed that military operations would continue until the Houthi forces no longer posed a threat to shipping.

The Panama Canal spans the narrowest Isthmus of Panama on the American continent, enabling ships to travel more quickly between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Agence France-Presse reported that the Panama Canal carries about 40% of the container freight volume of the United States every year.

The United States completed the construction of the Panama Canal in the early 20th century, but transferred the control of this strategic stronghold to Panama in 1999.

Trump has expressed on many occasions his hope to regain control of the canal. Before returning to the White House in January this year, he told reporters that he would not rule out using economic or military means to regain control of the canal.