Panama was the first country in Latin America to join the Belt and Roads Initiative in China (BRI) for the year 2017. Last month, it also became the first to leave it. Since its inception in 2013, more than 150 countries have participated in the infrastructure program aimed at increasing Chinese trade, with more than 20 in Latin America. After Panama’s withdrawal, regional domino effect cannot be excluded.
Since he took office in January, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly accused their country of abandoning the Banama channel to China. Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino and Beijing officials deny these claims. However, in the wake of a diplomatic trip by Foreign Minister Marco Rubio, Panama announced that she would feel her consensus with China.
Tensions remain. While the 1977 treaty signed by the United States transferred full power via the waterway to Panama in 2000, Trump did not move away from reaffirming it.
Evodio Kaltenecker, associate professor of international business and strategy at the College of Business Administration at the University of North Estrern, says. “The bri-Xit, intended from the pun, can see, through different lenses. First, the geopolitical issue: Western countries were concerned about the growing impact of China for decades all over the world. Panama and its channel clearly refers to the United States’s plans to confront Beijing and deepen regional economic partnerships. There are no empty spaces in political geography. If the Chinese impact decreases, then the influence led by Washington It will restore importance. “
Second, Kaltenecker continues, there is something that it loves to call a “geographical economic impact” that affects international trade: “Panama is not only a major component of the American shipping transmission system but also an important way for global trade. For example, nearly 5 % of global trade passes through the Panama channel every year, highlighting the importance of the channel as a marine path.”
Finally, Kaltenecker argues, there is a “signal effect”. “Not by chance, Panama’s withdrawal came days after Rubio’s visit to Panama,” he added. “It is possible that the American pressure in the Panamanian issue will determine the pattern of more Washington’s moves.”
