US tourists in Panama dismiss Trump’s canal claims

For dozens of US tourists watching a cargo ship pass along the Panama Canal, Donald Trump’s threat to possibly wrest back control of the waterway is nonsensical.

“I think it is 100 per cent Panama’s, yeah, and it should stay such,” said Natalia Glusack, a 47-year-old accountant from California on holiday with her mother.

She was among around 50 Americans standing in a viewing area at a visitors’ centre to watch a 266-metre Danish-flagged freighter move along the canal.

None of those interviewed backed president-elect Trump in his repeated threats that he could seize control of the canal after he returns to the White House next month.

Trump has claimed that American ships are charged “unfair” fees for passing through the canal, and made unsubstantiated allegations that China controls it.

Panama’s government has resolutely rejected Trump’s accusations and his threat.