Soon after President of Panama José Raúl Mulino declared that control of the Panama Canal is sovereign, President-elect Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image with a bold message.
The incoming US president appeared to be trolling the Panamanian leader’s remarks about controlling the waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Trump posted an AI-generated image of the American flag from X’s Grok that appeared to be flying over the Canal in a clear message.
The battle of words began when the former and future president warned about China’s influence on the area during a speech in Arizona at Turning Point USA’s AmFest 2024, saying, “we’re being ripped off at the Panama Canal, like we’re being ripped off everywhere else.”
He had previously posted a message on his Truth Social platform saying the U.S. has a “vested interest in the secure, efficient, and reliable operation” of the Panama Canal and “will NEVER let it fall into the wrong hands!”
“It was not given for the benefit of others, but merely as a token of cooperation with us and Panama,” Trump wrote. “If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question.”
Mulino shot back in remarks on Sunday that control of the canal is sovereign and “not negotiable,” though he did not mention the president-elect directly. The Panamanian leader declared that “every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent zone is Panama’s and will continue to be so.”
“We’ll see about that!” Trump posted Sunday in response to a report about Mulino’s comments.
Trump later posted the American flag image on the social media platform along with the caption,“Welcome to the United States Canal!”
