Lawmaker introduces bill to allow purchase of Panama Canal

WASHINGTON — Legislation introduced in Congress on Thursday would open the door to allowing incoming President Donald Trump to buy back the Panama Canal.

The Panama Canal Repurchase Act of 2025, introduced by U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., and referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, would authorize the president, in coordination with the secretary of state, “to initiate and conduct negotiations with appropriate counterparts of the Government of the Republic of Panama to reacquire the Panama Canal,” according to the bill’s language.

The legislation requires the president to submit a report to Congress six months after it’s enacted “detailing the progress of the negotiations” along with “potential challenges and anticipated outcomes.” The bill already has 16 co-sponsors, all Republicans

Trump in December began floating the idea of repurchasing the 51-mile-long waterway – which President Jimmy Carter signed over to Panama in a 1977 treaty that took effect in 2000 – for economic and national security reasons.

“President Trump is right to consider repurchasing the Panama Canal,” John

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