Why Does Trump Want the Panama Canal? - The Global Story Podcast, BBC World Service

Feb 1, 2025 | Since returning to the White House, Donald Trump has made a string of expansionist foreign policy announcements, angering several of his international counterparts.

After reiterating his ambitious intention to purchase Greenland, and renaming the Gulf of Mexico, the US president doubled down on his insistence that Washington should regain control of the Panama Canal, the essential shipping passage he claims has been commandeered by China.

Built by the United States in the early twentieth century, the waterway transformed global trade and marked America’s emergence as a superpower on the world stage, before being transferred to Panamanian control via a 1977 treaty. So why has Donald Trump got it in his sights now?

In this episode Jonny Dymond speaks to Julie Greene, professor of American studies at the University of Maryland, about the storied history of the Panama Canal. And the BBC’s North America business correspondent Michelle Fleury discusses the politics and economics behind the Trump administration's diplomatic pursuit of the trade route.

‘The Gulf of America’? Here’s What Mexicans and Cubans Think.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Following President Trump’s order renaming the Gulf of Mexico, at least in the United States, Mexicans and Cubans expressed annoyance, defiance, confusion and even amusement.

Francisco Javier Remes Sánchez was puzzled as he watched President Trump sign an executive order last week renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America as part of his pledge to honor “American greatness.”

“That man talks a lot and we have no choice but to defend Mexico,” said Mr. Remes Sánchez, 52, who manages a 15,000-member fishing association in Tamaulipas state in northeastern Mexico. He has fished in the gulf for 20 years and estimated that he spends 2,000 hours a year on its waters.

“He’s changing the name of a cultural and natural heritage of Mexico since the 16th century, when the United States hadn’t even been formed,” he added.

To be clear: Mr. Trump’s order renaming the world’s largest gulf only changed the name in the United States, where he has authority, not internationally. He asked the Secretary of the Interior to remove all mentions of the Gulf of Mexico in the government’s official geographic database and ensure that “all federal references,” including maps, contracts and other documents, reflected the new name.

On Friday, the Interior Department announced the switch. » | James Wagner | Reporting from Mexico City | Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Leer en español aquí.

This attempt to rename the Gulf of Mexico must be one of the dumbest, most childish things ever attempted by an American president. It is to be hoped that the rest of the civilised world will simply ignore Trump's stupidity. For me, at least, the Gulf of Mexico will forever remain just that: the Gulf of Mexico. – © Mark Alexander

Donald Trump Isn’t Even In Office Yet and Silly Season Has Already Begun

THE GUARDIAN – OPINION: He wants to seize the Panama Canal, Canada and Greenland. And now wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America

Donald Trump’s silly season has already caused irreparable damage to United States national security. Despite not yet holding office for a minute, Trump has made it plain that in his second term the U.S. will be an unreliable partner swayed by his personal whim, that he has no respect for historic alliances and that he has contempt for the rule-based international order that the U.S. has led since the end of World War II to prevent the reemergence of catastrophic great power collisions.

Beginning with his “Merry Christmas to all” tweet that he wanted to seize the Panama Canal, Canada and Greenland, Trump has not relented in his absurd claims, extended to renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. His disdain for the sovereignty of independent nations—two of them NATO allies and Panama a fellow member of the Organization of American States—has undermined the credibility of opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s ambition to grab Taiwan. The soft power of the U.S., ultimately based on its democratic example and respect for international order, has been tossed away by Trump’s fantasy Manifest Destiny that is simply the latest wrinkle in his isolationism. Hardly the Rough Rider, if Trump were acting as Putin’s or Xi’s agent he could not have kowtowed more for their benefit. » | Sidney Blumenthal | Monday, January 13, 2025

Americans voting for Donald Trump is like American turkeys voting for Christmas! They’ll get roasted. Watching this spectacle is going to be lots of fun. – © Mark Alexander

Is Trump More Serious about Taking Panama Canal and Greenland Now than in First Term? | DW News

Jan 8, 2025 | We start with US president-elect Donald Trump, now less than two weeks away from his inauguration, but already causing concern among America's allies. During his latest press conference in Florida, he talked about expanding US territory in a way that would fundamentally redraw the map of the Western Hemisphere.

He said he wanted to rename the "Gulf of Mexico" as the "Gulf of America". He once again talked about reclaiming the Panama Canal. And then the suggestions of making Canada the 51st US state... and getting Denmark to hand over Greenland.

Trump first floated the idea of buying the arctic island back in 2019 during his first term. It came to nothing then - but is more at play this time around? More after this report.

Poking Fun at Trump, Mexico’s President Suggests Renaming the U.S.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico also said Donald Trump was ill-informed when he said Mexico was “essentially run by the cartels.”

Mexico’s president rejected several of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s assertions about her country and even joked that the United States should be called “Mexican America” after Mr. Trump said the Gulf of Mexico should be renamed the Gulf of America.

President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico used her Wednesday morning news conference to show a world map dating from 1607. The map labeled North America as Mexican America and already identified the Gulf of Mexico as such, 169 years before the United States was founded.

“Why don’t we call it Mexican America? It sounds pretty, no?” Ms. Sheinbaum said while pointing to the map and smiling.

In response to Mr. Trump’s comment that Mexico was “essentially run by the cartels,” Ms. Sheinbaum told reporters on Wednesday that, “with all due respect,” the president-elect was ill-informed. (+ video) » | Emiliano Rodríguez Mega | Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Trump Refuses to Rule Out Military Force to Seize Greenland and Panama | BBC News

Jan 7, 2025 | The US President-elect Donald Trump has ramped up threats to seize control of Greenland and the Panama Canal, calling both critical to US national security.

Asked at a press conference if he would rule out using military or economic force in order to take over the autonomous Danish territory or the Panama Canal, he responded: "No, I can't assure you on either of those two…. but I can say this, we need them for economic security.”

Both Denmark and Panama have rejected any suggestion that they would voluntarily give up their territory. Mr Trump also said he planned to use “economic force” when asked if he would attempt to annex Canada, calling the US-Canada border an "artificially drawn line".

During the news conference at Mr Trump’s Mar-a- Lago estate in Florida he also criticised environmental regulations, the US electoral system and suggested renaming the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America”.

Reeta Chakrabarti presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Sarah Smith.


Make no mistake! This is a literal plan of action from a demented fool! – © Mark Alexander

NYT:

Trump Floats Using Force to Take Greenland and the Panama Canal: In an hourlong news conference at his Florida club, Mar-a-Lago, the president-elect delivered a hodgepodge of grievances, complaints and false claims. »

THE COPENHAGEN POST:

And Greenland’s Premier cancel visit to King Frederik amid growing tensions with the US: Greenland’s Premier, Múte Bourup Egede, has unexpectedly postponed a planned visit to Denmark’s King Frederik, originally scheduled for Wednesday. This happened while Donald Trump Jr. is heading to Greenland for an unofficial visit. »

Facebook and Instagram to Get Rid of Fact Checkers, Mark Zuckerberg Announces | BBC News

Jan 7, 2025 | Meta is abandoning the use of independent fact checkers on Facebook and Instagram, replacing them with X-style "community notes" where commenting on the accuracy of posts is left to users.

Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said third-party moderators were "too politically biased" and it was "time to get back to our roots around free expression".

Zuckerberg and other tech executives are seeking to improve relations with US President-elect Donald Trump before he takes office later this month.

In a wide-ranging news conference on Tuesday, when asked whether he thought Meta was introducing the changes due to threats he had made towards the company, Trump replied, "Probably."

At the same event, he also said he wanted to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.


With Trump in the White House, there's trouble ahead. BIG trouble. Very BIG trouble. We have a rough ride ahead of us. – © Mark Alexander

Church Collapse in Mexico Kills 11 During Collective Baptism

THE NEW YORK TIMES: A church roof fell in a city on Mexico’s Gulf Coast as dozens of parishioners were at Sunday Mass. Rescuers said at least three children were among the dead.


Surveillance footage shows the moment the roof of a church in Ciudad Madero, Mexico, collapsed during Sunday Mass. | Secretary of Public Security Tamaulipas, via Reuters
Rescuers in northern Mexico recovered the bodies of 10 people who died after the roof of a Roman Catholic church collapsed during Sunday Mass in Ciudad Madero, an oil-refining city on the Gulf of Mexico. Among the youngest victims were three children, including a 1-and-a-half-year-old boy.

The roof collapsed during a collective baptism, according to the Diocese of Tampico. About 60 people were injured, and more than 23 of them were hospitalized on Monday morning, the Tamaulipas State security spokesman’s office said. One of those hospitalized died later on Monday, the spokesman said.

About 100 people were inside the Santa Cruz church at the time of the collapse, officials said. » | Emiliano Rodríguez Mega and Simon Romero, Reporting from Mexico City | Monday, October 2, 2023

The Coming California Megastorm

THE NEW YORK TIMES: A different ‘Big One’ is approaching. Climate change is hastening its arrival.

California, where earthquakes, droughts and wildfires have shaped life for generations, also faces the growing threat of another kind of calamity, one whose fury would be felt across the entire state.

This one will come from the sky.

According to new research, it will very likely take shape one winter in the Pacific, near Hawaii. No one knows exactly when, but from the vast expanse of tropical air around the Equator, atmospheric currents will pluck out a long tendril of water vapor and funnel it toward the West Coast.

This vapor plume will be enormous, hundreds of miles wide and more than 1,200 miles long, and seething with ferocious winds. It will be carrying so much water that if you converted it all to liquid, its flow would be about 26 times what the Mississippi River discharges into the Gulf of Mexico at any given moment.

When this torpedo of moisture reaches California, it will crash into the mountains and be forced upward. This will cool its payload of vapor and kick off weeks and waves of rain and snow. » | Raymond Zhong | Graphics by Mira Rojanasakul | Photographs by Erin Schaff | Friday, August 12, 2022

Trump’s Wall: A Symbol of His Presidency? - BBC Newsnight

Senior Republicans are resisting spending on the controversial wall when the money - they say - should be spent on disaster relief. The wall was meant to separate America from Mexico but the divide so far has been between the President himself and his party. Division that points to a gulf of differences on other issues - between those who are broadly internationalist and those who cry America First. Gabriel Gatehouse has been to the site of the wall in Arizona and sent this report.

Severe Weather Threatens Eastern US States

BBC: Severe weather is threatening as many as 73 million Americans in the eastern states, after two days of powerful storms killed up to 34 people.

Government forecasters have warned of severe thunderstorms from the Gulf of Mexico up to the Great Lakes.

On Sunday and Monday, tornadoes cut a broad track of death and destruction through the southern US states.

The storms flattened buildings, overturned cars, and left thousands of residents without power.

"Widespread thunderstorms are forecast across the central Gulf Coast region, with several severe [or] supercell storms possible," the National Weather Service wrote in a morning forecast.

More than two million people are said to be at risk of tornadoes and high winds in parts of Alabama and Mississippi on Tuesday.

As the storm moves further east, parts of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina are expected to be under threat of severe weather, forecasters say. (+ BBC videos) » | Tuesday, April 29, 2014

BP Reaches £4.9bn Gulf Oil Spill Deal
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: BP has agreed to pay $7.8bn (£4.9bn) to American businesses hit by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in an eleventh-hour deal that's likely to be welcomed in the City of London on Monday.

The UK oil company will pay damages to the thousands of hoteliers, shrimpers and oystermen along the Gulf Coast who were caught up in America's worst oil spill. The settlement follows a week of intense talks in New Orleans between lawyers for the local businesses and BP's legal team.

Following the agreement, US District Judge Carl Barbier delayed for a second time the trial into who should shoulder the blame for the explosion that killed 11 people and injured many more in April 2010. The trial had been rescheduled to start tomorrow after Judge Barbier had given BP another week to find a deal.

"The proposed settlement represents significant progress toward resolving issues from the accident and contributing further to economic and environmental restoration efforts along the Gulf Coast," said Bob Dudley, BP's chief executive. » | Richard Blackden, New York | Saturday, March 03, 2012

Republicans Take On Obama over Oil Pipeline
Republican politicians in the United States are fighting President Barack Obama's decision to reject a controversial pipeline project. They are trying to strip the president of his authority to decide the fate of the Keystone oil pipeline, which would carry oil from Canada through the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Republicans say Obama made the decision based on political considerations, and that the project would create thousands of jobs. Democrats, however, argue that a full environmental assessment must be carried out before the deal can be approved. Al Jazeera's Kimberly Halkett reports from Washington, DC, the US capital.

Libya Has Made Fools of Us All Over Lockerbie Bomber Megrahi, and Much Else Besides
THE TELEGRAPH: Gaddafi was playing Tony Blair long before the release of the Lockerbie bomber, argues Con Coughlin.

It doesn't matter how much money BP stands to make from its deep-water exploration off the Libyan coast – it is never going to compensate for the humiliation Britain has suffered over last year's decision to repatriate the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi.

Britain's leading oil company says it has postponed plans to drill its first deep-water well in Libya's Gulf of Sirte until later in the year, because of the concerns that have been raised by the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. But that is not the only reason BP is holding fire: its senior executives fear that if work commences just as Megrahi is celebrating his first year of freedom, it would further infuriate the members of the US Senate who are already demanding a full Congressional inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Megrahi's release.

The fact of the matter is that Megrahi, according to what we were told at the time, should not be alive, and certainly not the subject of the sickening spectacle that has been arranged today by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the Libyan dictator's son and political heir. This will see 500 teenagers, flown in from around the world at vast expense, acting as guests of honour at a ceremony to mark the one-year anniversary of Megrahi's return home from his Scottish prison cell.

Precisely what role BP played in securing Megrahi's release, or what bearing this had on its $900 million oil exploration contract, remains unclear. The company says it did no more than lobby the Scottish Parliament for a prisoner swap. But many senior officials in the Obama administration believe that BP was more deeply involved. They point to the role played by Sir Mark Allen, a former senior MI6 officer who headed the negotiations that persuaded Libya to stop work on its nuclear weapons programme, in late 2003, and wrote to the Foreign Office seeking Megrahi's release.

The lenient approach that Scottish officials adopted in dealing with Megrahi's case, in which no serious assessment appears to have been made of the terrorist's medical condition, certainly fits with the approach that Tony Blair encouraged British officials to adopt towards Libya following the nuclear deal. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi might remain one of the region's less appealing dictators, but that did not prevent Mr Blair from working tirelessly to bring him in from the diplomatic cold. Continue reading and comment >>> Con Coughlin | Friday, August 20, 2010

With Remarks on Mosque, Obama Enters Risky Debate
Guests at a White House dinner on Friday, where the president commented on the proposed mosque in Lower Manhattan. Photograph: The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Faced with withering Republican criticism of his defense of the right of Muslims to build a community center and mosque near ground zero, President Obama quickly recalibrated his remarks on Saturday, a sign that he has waded into even more treacherous political waters than the White House had at first realized.

In brief comments during a family trip to the Gulf of Mexico, Mr. Obama said he was not endorsing the New York project, but simply trying to uphold the broader principle that government should “treat everybody equally,” regardless of religion.

“I was not commenting, and I will not comment, on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there,” Mr. Obama said. “I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That’s what our country is about.”

But Mr. Obama’s attempt to clarify his remarks, less than 24 hours after his initial comments at a White House iftar, a Ramadan sunset dinner, pushed the president even deeper into the thorny debate about Islam, national identity and what it means to be an American — a move that is riskier for him than for his predecessors.

From the moment he took the oath of office, using his entire name, Barack Hussein Obama, as he swore to protect and defend the Constitution, Mr. Obama has personified the hopes of many Americans about tolerance and inclusion. He has devoted himself to reaching out to the Muslim world, vowing, as he did in Cairo last year, “a new beginning.”

But his “new beginning” has aroused nervousness in some, especially those who disagree with his counterterrorism policies, or those more comfortable with a vision of America as a white and largely Christian nation, and not the pluralistic melting pot Mr. Obama represents.

The debate over the proposed Islamic center in Manhattan only intensified on Saturday, as the conservative blogosphere lighted up with criticism of Mr. Obama, and leading Republicans — including Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker; Representative John A. Boehner, the House minority leader; and Representative Peter T. King of New York — forcefully rejected the president’s stance.

Mr. Gingrich accused the president of “pandering to radical Islam.” Mr. Boehner said the decision to build a mosque so close to ground zero was “deeply troubling, as is the president’s decision to endorse it.” And Mr. King flatly said the president “is wrong,” adding that Mr. Obama had “caved in to political correctness.”

Indeed, the criticism was so intense that the White House ultimately issued an elaboration on the president’s clarification, insisting that the president was “not backing off in any way” from the comments he made Friday night. >>> Sheryl Gay Stolberg | Saturday, August 14, 2010

Outgoing BP Chief: 'Life's Not Fair'
SKY NEWS: The outgoing BP chief executive Tony Hayward says he feels "demonised and vilified" over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as the firm posts one of the biggest corporate losses in history. Joel Hills reports.



No, Tony, life certainly isn't fair when people who screw-up can walk away from a company with millions in the form of a golden parachute, yet others work all their lives, do things well, but walk away with next to nothing. Life certainly isn't fair. You got that right! – © Mark

Exclusive: 'BP Boss Off To Russia'
SKY NEWS: Sky News has learnt that BP's embattled chief executive Tony Hayward is to take up a new post in Russia as part of the deal to replace him following the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. Our Business Editor Mark Kleinman has the details.

BP Oil Spill: Tony Hayward Replaced by Bob Dudley as Oil Giant Slumps to Record Loss
THE TELEGRAPH: Tony Hayward has resigned as chief executive of BP, after the energy giant announced a record $17bn loss this year on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.



The oil company also said that Bob Dudley, the American in charge of BP’s oil spill response unit, will now take over on October 1 and lead the company through an accelerated programme of $30bn in asset sales. BP made “clean” profits of $5bn, stripping out the effect of inventory changes and exceptionals, but took a $32.2bn pre-tax charge on the oil spill.

This is made up of a $20bn compensation fund for victims, clean-up charges and provisions for funding costs. The “clean” profits are a 74pc rise in last year’s figure of $2.9bn, as a result of higher oil prices and more efficient operations. BP will now press ahead with becoming smaller and more profitable, selling $30bn of exploration and production assets in the next 18 months.

Mr Dudley will also have to navigate a criminal investigation into the spill, a slew of litigation and ward off rivals seeking to pounce on the company's trophy assets. Dudley, who ran BP's troubled Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, said last month that for BP to "remain strong and viable in the US, it has a great deal of work to do." >>> Rowena Mason | Tuesday, July 27, 2010

DAILY EXPRESS: BP Boss Tony Hayward Sent to Siberia in £12m Exit Deal: BP boss Tony Hayward is to be sent to Siberia in a £12million exit deal designed to quell outrage in the United States, it emerged last night. >>> Padraic Flanagan | Tuesday, July 27, 2010

BP Blunderer's Golden Goodbye: Hayward Exits with £10m Pension Pot as an American Replaces Him
MAIL ONLINE: The embattled head of BP is on the brink of bailing out today - with a golden parachute to break his fall.

Tony Hayward, who arrived at the company's headquarters in London this morning, will receive a seven-figure payoff and a pension estimated at £584,000 a year.

He will stand down today after three months of abuse left him described as the ‘most hated and clueless man in America’.

The enforced departure of the 53-year-old Briton will top the agenda at a crucial London board meeting today.

He has been widely seen as a ‘dead man walking’ ever since an oil-rig explosion led to the worst-ever environmental disaster in the U.S.

The focus will not be on if he goes but when, and how much it costs. During his 28 years at BP, he has built up a gold-plated £10.8million pension pot which he can start taking at 60.

He is also entitled to a year’s salary, equal to just over £1million.

His departure follows a disastrous series of PR gaffes since 11 died in an explosion on April 20 in the Gulf of Mexico.

One of his most notorious was to admit: ‘I want my life back’, at a time when millions of barrels of oil were gushing into the ocean, wrecking the livelihoods of thousands of Americans.

A few weeks later, his decision to go sailing on his yacht in the Isle of Wight added to suspicions that Mr Hayward was not being suitably contrite. But the level of the fury from America has been extraordinary and relentless despite the fact that BP was not solely responsible for the disaster.

President Obama warned: ‘He wouldn’t be working for me after any of those statements.’

Yesterday a BP spokesman insisted that Mr Hayward, whose family have been the victims of crank phone calls, hate mail and death threats, remains the company’s chief executive.

But his departure is inevitable, and will be the second headline-grabbing exit of a BP chief executive in just three years. In 2007, his predecessor Lord Browne dramatically resigned after admitting lying on oath to a High Court judge. >>> Becky Barrow and Daniel Bates | Monday, July 26, 2010

BP Chief Tony Hayward 'Negotiating Exit Deal'
BBC: BP's chief executive Tony Hayward has been negotiating the terms of his exit, with a formal announcement likely within 24 hours, the BBC has learnt.

Mr Hayward has been widely criticised over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

BBC business editor Robert Peston said it was likely he would be replaced by his US colleague Bob Dudley, now in charge of the clean-up operation.

BP said Mr Hayward "remains our chief executive and has the full support of the board and senior management".

Our correspondent added that while BP had been preparing for a change at the top for some time, the company was waiting until progress had been made on stemming the leak and until it was possible to quantify the financial costs of the disaster.

BP is due to release its results for the second quarter on Tuesday.

It is expected to reveal a provision of up to $30bn (£19bn) for the costs of capping the well, compensation claims and fines to be paid, resulting in a massive quarterly loss.

BP's board is scheduled to meet on Monday ahead of the results.

Mr Hayward has been with the company for 28 years. >>> | Sunday, July 25, 2010