President Trump’s push to take back control of the strategic waterway stokes memories of a period of U.S. imperial ambition and violence.

Trump has suggested using military force to retake the Panama Canal, but such an action would involve complications.

During his inaugural address, President Donald Trump doubled down on his assertion that China runs the Panama Canal. "China is operating the Panama Canal and we didn't give it to China. We gave it to Panama and we're taking it back,

In his inaugural address, President Donald Trump reiterated threats he has made about the Panama Canal, claiming, "we're taking it back." He'd previously declared that the rates Panama charges for access to the Panama Canal violated the “magnanimous gesture” the U.

In recent weeks, when he was President-elect Donald Trump publicly said that Panama should return the Panama Canal to the United States, and he would not rule out using military force to reclaim it. At his presidential Inauguration on Monday Trump doubled down on saying that his new administration was going to take back the canal.

President Donald Trump has called for the US to retake control of the Panama Canal unless the cost of passage for naval and merchant ships is slashed. Trump’s refusal to rule out the use of force is a throwback to the 19th century era of gunboat diplomacy.

Some Panamanians saw Trump's remarks as a way of applying pressure on Panama for something else he wants: better control of migration through the Darien Gap.