GOP senator: U.S. needs to take back Panama Canal in case of war with China

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) voiced his support of President-elect Donald Trump's suggestion to use military force to regain control of the Panama Canal while speaking to Fox Business host Larry Kudlow on Tuesday.

Tuberville has long complained that China has a growing influence over the canal and that ISIS was sneaking into the United States through an unsecured border by making their way from the Middle East to Panama and then heading north to the United States.

"Over the last few years, China signed 30 contracts with the Panamanians, some of it to do with the Canal and Panamanians are now trying to get out of some of those contracts because the Chinese have breached some of those contracts, which we need as the United States of America to protect Panama because that’s how important it is to all of us," Tuberville said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in 2023.

ALSO READ: Busted: Tommy Tuberville invested in defense contractor while blocking military nominations

Tuberville went to Panama in the weeks that followed.

"We've gotta take the Panama Canal back. We've gotta do something because if we were to happen to go to war with China over Taiwan and they were to shut the Panama Canal down, we'd have to go 8 to 10,000 miles just to get things back to the war zone," said Tuberville to Kudlow.

See the video below or at the link here.

- YouTube youtu.be