Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) on Thursday criticized President-elect Trump for saying the U.S. should take control of the Panama Canal and purchase Greenland.
“It is utterly preposterous to suggest that we are going to send our military into Panama to, quote, 'take back the Panama Canal,'" Wasserman Schultz said during a Thursday appearance on CNN.
“We have a treaty with Panama. We have a free trade agreement with Panama,” she added.
“We are no more going to take back the Panama Canal than Panama is going to come in and try to take the Mississippi River from us.”
Trump has repeatedly said over the past week that control of the Panama Canal, which has been in Panamanian hands since the 1970s, should return to the U.S. He has complained about “exorbitant prices” and said the U.S. is “being ripped off.”
“The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the U.S.,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump has also said owning Greenland is "an absolute necessity” for the U.S.
Officials from Panama and Greenland have pushed back vehemently on the idea.
Wasserman Schultz called remarks about both areas "ridiculous carnival barker threats."
She said Trump’s suggested fair prices for the Panama Canal would only benefit billionaires in his circle.
“What Donald Trump is really trying to do here is try to get better fees for passage for his corporate and billionaire allies,” she said. “That’s what this boils down to. And it’s preposterous.”
The Florida Democrat also criticized Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Panama, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera.
The Florida representative described him as another pick with a “scant resume” who “worships” the former president.
