With US territorial expansion, I would like to see Panama added back into our fold too.
Make the Panamanians an offer they can’t refuse, boot the stinking Chicoms out of the locks management permanently, and tariff every ship passing through there, even if they aren’t headed for US ports.
That betrayal from Jimmy Carter with the Panama Canal was really a signal to other world powers that the US is weak and can be exploited.
We built it. Many American lives were lost during the construction of the Canal Zone. We should own it, manage it, and make people pay their fair share for its use to recoup our huge investment.
We can go back to permanent basing of US Rapid Deployment and Canal Zone forces there.