Canal threats, money-laundering claims and a hotel battle: Trump’s long, weird history with Panama
Share:
Major Trump project in Panama City brought lawsuits, shoving matches and money-laundering allegations before Trump lost it in hostile takeover. In a series of posts on Truth Social, the president-elect accused the country of “ripping off” the US. “Our Navy and Commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way,” Trump wrote. “The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the US.”.
![[Trump opened his first international hotel venture in 2011 in Panama City with the Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower]](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2017/11/28/12/trump-ocean-club-international-tower-gettyimages-482394326.jpg)
Panamanian officials have pushed back against the threats, with President José Raúl Mulino saying in a Sunday statement that “every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent zone belongs to Panama, and will continue to do so.”. The dispute over the canal is just the latest chapter of Trump drama in Panama.
![[Trump later fought for control of the Panama City tower with a developer who bought out the majority of units]](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/09/09/13/rio3.jpg)
Before and throughout his first term in the White House, a high-profile Trump hotel project in the country was a seemingly unending source of scandal and financial problems, ranging from a partner’s bankruptcy to money-laundering allegations to long-running legal battles.
![[A key broker on the Trump Panama project may have sold units to organized crime figures who used properties as vehicles for money-laundering]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/04/22/18/GettyImages-1197785192-1.jpg)
In 2011, Trump and his business partners cut the ribbon on the Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower, a 70-story, sail-shaped skyscraper that loomed large over Panama City and the Trump Organization itself. Trump capital didn’t go towards building the development itself, but the tower used the Trump name for branding, and companies controlled by the Trump Organization would manage the property, which contained a casino, hotel rooms and condos.
![[Trump’s name has since been pried off the sign outside the signature Panama project]](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2018/03/01/11/trumphotel-panama-0.jpg)
