President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said the Panama Canal was a “disgrace” and that the U.S. made a terrible mistake giving control of it to Panama.

Mr. Trump, who has said the U.S. should retake control of the strategic waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, noted that President Jimmy Carter gave the canal to Panama for a symbolic $1 payment.

“They were supposed to treat us well, I thought it was a terrible thing to do,” Mr. Trump said at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago. “The deal was they have to treat us fairly, they don’t treat us fairly.”

Mr. Trump said Panama now charges U.S. ships more than ships from other countries.

“They charge for our navy more than they do for navies of other countries. They laugh at us because they think we’re stupid, but we’re not stupid anymore.”

He said the canal is “under discussion with them right now.”

“They want our help because it’s leaking and not in good repair and they want us to give $3 billion to help fix it,” he said. “I said, ’Well why don’t you get the money from China’ because China’s basically taking it over. … China’s running the Panama Canal.”

Mr. Trump responded “no” when a reporter asked him if he could ensure that the military would not be used to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, which Mr. Trump also said the U.S. should control.

“We need them for economic security,” he said. “The Panama Canal was built for our military.”

“The Panama Canal is vital to our country. It’s being operated by China, China. We gave the Panama Canal to Panama, we didn’t give it to China,” he said, adding that he thinks giving the canal back to Panama is what lost Carter the election and was a “very big mistake.”

Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that he wants to retake control of the Panama Canal and acquire Greenland.

When announcing his choice for U.S. ambassador to Denmark last month, he said, “For purposes of national security and freedom throughout the world … the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”

• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.