Stretching 80 kilometers and no wider than 150 meters at certain points, the Panama Canal, through which 6% of global trade transits, has become a test of Washington's ability to push back Chinese interests. At the center of this showdown is the Hong Kong company that has operated the two terminals at the canal's extremities since 1997, CK Hutchison.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth visited the small Central American country on Tuesday, April 8, and Wednesday, April 9, following a trip by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in early February. Still wearing a pocket square in US flag colors, Hegseth at times made what, by the standards of the Trump administration, may seem like a conciliatory statement: "We certainly understand that the Panama Canal is in Panama."

But he quickly pushed the limits of acceptability for his hosts, claiming to have obtained priority and free passage rights for American military ships and above all seeing his visit as an "opportunity to revive, whether it's the military base, naval air station, locations where US troops can work with Panamanian troops."

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