Canal fever?

[ombugge]

Trump calls for free passage of American ships through Suez and Panama canals...

Trump said in a social media post on Saturday that American ships, both military and commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the two canals, adding that the two routes “would not exist” without the US and that he had asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “immediately take care of” the situation.

The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted that the US will take back control of the Panama Canal in Central America, which links the Pacific and the Atlantic, and which he claims to be under China’s influence.
The US largely built the canal in the 1900s and administered the territory surrounding the passage for decades. Washington handed control of the waterway to Panama in 1999 under a treaty signed in 1977 under President Jimmy Carter after a period of joint administration.

Meanwhile, Trump’s demand on the Suez route —a major economic lifeline for Egypt delivering billions in revenue and a vital shipping artery— represents a new shift of focus.
The 193-km link between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, launched in 1869, attracted about 12% to 15% of worldwide trade and about 30% of global container traffic before attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on shipping routes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

[captarne]

I don’t see this flying at all, considering that the U.S. has so few ships passing through the canals and that they are major money makers for both Egypt and Panama.

[ombugge]

@captarne

I don’t see this flying at all,

Oh yes it will, like all the other high flying ideas and statements he utters on “Thrust Optional”.
Next thing he’ll tell us he personally dug these canals in an earlier incarnation.

PS> If it doesn’t fly, then Plan B comes into play:

Source: Redirecting...

[Steamer]

@ombugge

The US largely built the canal in the 1900s and administered the territory surrounding the passage for decades.

After stealing the region from Colombia.
Maybe given our history of invading Panama to remove our pet dictator who got a bit too independent, they will simply ban American ships altogether. Since there are so few it won’t make much difference in their revenues.