The transit fees for the Panama Canal should be negotiated peacefully, not through threats, former Deputy Secretary of State for Defense Jims Townsend says.
#Trump #Panama
#Trump #Panama
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00:00A huge diplomatic row brewing and Trump has not assumed office yet.
00:06What do you make of his threats regarding the Panama Canal?
00:09Well, you're right in the sense that he's not even the president yet.
00:13We have a president, it's Joe Biden, and this is not something that the U.S. administration
00:19has been worried about.
00:21This is something that now Trump is taking on, and it's really he's posturing and he's
00:27bullying, quite frankly, in a very undiplomatic way, but we've got to get used to that.
00:33But he's bullying the Panamanians about these transit fees.
00:36But as your report points out, it's not just us, it's the Japanese, it's the Chileans,
00:42Chinese, others pay this transit fee, and we should all come together and go negotiate
00:47something with the Panamanians if there's an issue here.
00:50We shouldn't take out a baseball bat and begin to bully them.
00:54That's not the way to start negotiations.
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