By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Panama has alerted the United Nations - in a letter seen by Reuters on Tuesday - to U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks during his inauguration speech, when he vowed that the United States would take back the Panama Canal.
Panama's U.N. Ambassador Eloy Alfaro de Alba noted that under the founding U.N. Charter, countries "shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state".
The letter was addressed to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and circulated to the 15-member Security Council. Panama is a member of the council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, for 2025-26.
Doubling down on his pre-inauguration threat to reimpose U.S. control over the canal, Trump on Monday accused Panama of breaking the promises it made for the final transfer of the strategic waterway in 1999 and of ceding its operation to China - claims that the Panamanian government has strongly denied.
"We didn't give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we're taking it back," Trump said just minutes after being sworn in for a second four-year term.
Alfaro de Alba shared Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino's rejection of Trump's remarks.
"Dialogue is always the way to clarify the points mentioned without undermining our right, total sovereignty and ownership of our Canal," Mulino said.
The United States largely built the canal and administered territory surrounding the passage for decades. But the United States and Panama signed a pair of accords in 1977 that paved the way for the canal's return to full Panamanian control. The United States handed it over in 1999 after a period of joint administration.