House Republicans on Thursday introduced a bill for the United States to repurchase the Panama Canal after President-elect Trump raised concerns that the critical waterway is under Chinese control. 

The bill, named the Panama Canal Repurchase Act, was introduced by Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., a member of the Select Committee on China and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. 

‘President Trump is right to consider repurchasing the Panama Canal,’ Johnson said in a statement. ‘China’s interest in and presence around the canal is a cause for concern. America must project strength abroad – owning and operating the Panama Canal might be an important step towards a stronger America and a more secure globe.’

The bill has 15 other Republican co-sponsors: Reps. Dan Crenshaw, Randy Weber, Troy Nehls and Brian Babin of Texas; Mike Collins, Barry Loudermilk and Andrew Clyde of Georgia; Barry Moore of Alabama; Jack Bergman of Michigan; Mike Rulli of Ohio; Neal Dunn and Aaron Bean of Florida; Erin Houchin of Indiana; Abraham Hamadeh of Arizona; and Mike Lawler of New York. 

If it becomes law, the bill would give the president authority to act 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.’

From the date the measure is enacted, the president has 180 days to submit a report to Congress detailing the progress of the negotiations, potential challenges and anticipated outcomes.

The U.S. Department of State estimates around 72% of all vessels that travel through the Panama Canal are coming from or going to a U.S. port. 

Noting the canal’s strategic importance to the United States, Johnson’s office also noted how the waterway is a key transit point for U.S. Coast Guard and Department of Defense vessels. 

Without access to the canal, ships would be forced to travel 8,000 additional miles around South America. 

‘More than 10,000 ships use the Panama Canal each year, generating billions of dollars of tolls which would economically benefit America,’ Johnson’s office said. 

At a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday, Trump was asked if he would assure the world he would not use ‘military or economic coercion’ to gain control of the Panama Canal, as well as Greenland. 

‘No, I can’t assure you on either of those two. But, I can say this. We need them for economic security. The Panama Canal was built for our military,’ Trump said. ‘Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country. It’s being operated by China. China. And we gave the Panama Canal to Panama. We didn’t give it to China. And they’ve abused it. They’ve abused that gift. It should have never been made.’ 

The Panamanian government has denied that China is controlling the Panama Canal, which the United States relinquished on the last day of 1999 under a treaty negotiated decades before by the late former President Jimmy Carter. 

Johnson’s office referenced China’s growing influence in the region around the Panama Canal. 

‘In 2018, Panama was the first country in Latin America to join the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Belt and Road Initiative, and investments from PRC firms in canal infrastructure has only increased since. Further, PRC companies have managing rights for the two ports on either side of the canal,’ the congressman’s office wrote. 

Two seaports on either side of the Panama Canal have been run for decades by the Hong-Kong-based company Hutchison Ports PPC, the New York Times reported. 

The newspaper highlighted how the Chinese government has increasingly implemented its national security laws on the island of Hong Kong that can force companies to comply with intelligence-gathering and military operations.