Donald Trump has said repeatedly that he wants to “take back” the Panama Canal but has not offered specifics about how he would do so. Here is an explanation of the history and laws governing the critical waterway.

Trump and his team are right to recognize Panama’s strategic importance, but they are wrong in how they are approaching the issue. During his inaugural address in January, President Trump proclaimed that “China is operating the Panama Canal” and promised that the United States would be “taking it back.

The first speech of Trump’s second term in office, while not officially a State of the Union address, is a chance for the president to lay out legislative priorities and tout early achievements.

A group of investors led by BlackRock is to acquire the two strategic ports of Cristobal and Balboa in the Panama Canal for more than 22 billion dollars. "My administration is going to take back the Panama Canal,