this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2024
222 points (95.9% liked)

Not The Onion

12543 readers
1643 users here now

Welcome

We're not The Onion! Not affiliated with them in any way! Not operated by them in any way! All the news here is real!

The Rules

Posts must be:

  1. Links to news stories from...
  2. ...credible sources, with...
  3. ...their original headlines, that...
  4. ...would make people who see the headline think, “That has got to be a story from The Onion, America’s Finest News Source.”

Comments must abide by the server rules for Lemmy.world and generally abstain from trollish, bigoted, or otherwise disruptive behavior that makes this community less fun for everyone.

And that’s basically it!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/23416568

Summary

Donald Trump criticized Panama Canal fees as “ridiculous” and demanded lower costs or the canal’s return to the US.

In a Truth Social post, Trump also expressed concern about potential Chinese influence over the waterway, despite no direct Chinese control of canal operations.

The canal, transferred to Panama in 1999, is vital for global trade, handling 5% of maritime traffic.

Trump’s comments follow record revenues of $5 billion announced by the Panama Canal Authority. Panama has not yet responded to his statements.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] xylogx@lemmy.world 1 points 7 minutes ago (1 children)

The reason it has gotten so expensive is that the lake they use to flood the locks is dangerously low. Thing is that lake is also their main source of drinking water. So there is limited capacity unless you deprive the Panamanian people of drinking water. It is a complex issue, and bluster and threats will not make it any better.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 minutes ago

I bet at least part of the reason for the lake running low is climate change too, making Trump and his cronies partly responsible for the very expenses he's having a hissy fit over..

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 2 points 53 minutes ago (1 children)

But I thought he wanted to reduce imports from China.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 49 minutes ago (1 children)

Fun fact: according to the scientific consensus*, The Panama Canal is not located in China

*AKA maps. Geography is a science, after all..

[–] SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee 2 points 11 minutes ago

What!? Does the NASA is know about this???

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

For a grown man in a diaper he sure demands a lot. The toddler act is only gonna get him so far

[–] passivelnk@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

Ignore him, and he will go away. Not immediately, but soon. He thrives on your rage.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 5 points 5 hours ago

This just barely qualifies as not the Onion

[–] El_guapazo@lemmy.world 22 points 11 hours ago

Pay attention to me! Ignore Luigi and Elon. I'm the news! I will have order!

[–] iamnotme@feddit.uk 17 points 11 hours ago

Hey Panama, it ain’t right that you’re charging people to use the Panama Canal. Give it to me so I can gouge the fuck out of it, including US shipping companies.

Unless they’re prepared to tickle my saggy balks of course, then they get friends and family discount.

[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 25 points 13 hours ago

take-backsies as the basis for foreign policy

[–] Pringles@lemm.ee 150 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

In other words: he was playing golf with some shipping magnate who complained about the high fees.

[–] CitizenKong@lemmy.world 51 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Or there was a segment on Fox News.

[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 31 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Or Elon was trying to sound smart

[–] radix@lemmy.world 15 points 15 hours ago

There's a theory around that Elon even wrote the post.

https://bsky.app/profile/philco.bsky.social/post/3ldu7wfsr6k2g

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 8 points 12 hours ago

Nah, he's just trying to give Russia and China justifications to take back Taiwan and Alaska

[–] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 89 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (3 children)

Panama has not yet responded to his statements.

Hopefully they just ignore him. And hopefully other countries start doing that too.

No government ahould be compelled to respond to Truth Social posts.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 30 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, best case scenario is that the rest of the world starts to consciously uncouple from the US, taking away the ability of the incoming fascist government to strongarm "allies" into doing and saying everything they want or suffer financial and diplomatic ruin.

[–] futatorius@lemm.ee 12 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

It's already happening. If Trump attempts to go Neville Chamberlain on Ukraine, the Europeans (at least a large group of them) are willing to tell him to fuck off.

[–] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 4 points 11 hours ago

Hopefully. Time will tell.

[–] futatorius@lemm.ee 6 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

No civilized person should be compelled to listen to Trump's whiny gob.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 7 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

They could do something really funny and double it.

[–] kbal@fedia.io 10 points 16 hours ago (5 children)

They probably can't afford to double the fees for everyone, their canal would be out of business. But double the fees only for American-flagged vessels might be feasible.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 8 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

It's my understanding the canal is already almost out of business because they don't have enough water. They limit travel through the canal to avoid emptying Lake Gatun.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago

You could argue they need to raise prices, both to account for the natural resource degradation and to reduce congestion to a sustainable level

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] lemmy_outta_here@lemmy.world 59 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Sir, do you have the original receipt?

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 28 points 18 hours ago

Probably not, since the US essentially stole it.

US wanted to build a canal. The place they wanted to build it was part of Colombia. US backs a secession of the Central American portion of Columbia, creating the nation of Panama. Panama grants the US a 99-year lease on the Canal Zone. US builds canal.

[–] shoulderoforion@fedia.io 39 points 18 hours ago

Everybody laughing at this guy, but actual real people, and families, that are alive today, won't be this time next year, because of the insane shit Trump and his cadre of incompetents will foist on the world with their purposefully unworkable foreign policies. You don't do this, or nominate any of Trumps barrel bottoms in the first place, if you want a functioning ChristoFascist government, you do this because you want to get away with something else while everyone is distracted.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 20 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Panama should respond,

"In response to Trump's statement, Panama will talk with Putin about the possibility of a Russian military base to be built in Panama to safeguard free trade from interference from President Trump."

Trump can't get angry at his daddy Putin.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Dragomus@lemmy.world 25 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Interesting, the fees can almost be directly compared to his tariffs, as in its a government mandated fee on top of goods/ships crossing the border/canal.... and Trump does not like them 😅

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Starmer should demand that Trump either drop the proposed tariffs or give New England back 😄

[–] Agrivar@lemmy.world 7 points 17 hours ago (5 children)

...as a lifelong New Englander, I'm not sure if I want to root for or against that proposal! (pre-Brexit it would have been a no-brainer; I'd love to be part of the EU)

[–] sepi@piefed.social 7 points 16 hours ago

Why should anybody care about what you, a resident of the place thinks? This is how trump operates also: not caring about the residents or the people impacted.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] Karmmah@lemmy.world 13 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I think it's time to start blocking news about US politics.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 7 points 13 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Karmmah@lemmy.world 4 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

Would recommend it. Much better than having your brain rot away at a massively increased pace for the next four years.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 6 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Burying your head in the sand is technically a strategy

[–] Karmmah@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

As is consuming news like these, getting frustrated over it but not being able to do anything about it and then wrecking your mental health.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Out of all the things I posted, that I thought you were replying to, I thought you were replying to my post that smith & wesson was about to benefit massively from the brain drain that the USA is about to experience over the next 4 years. With the implication of my joke being suicide. Then I read you reccomending it, and I full on belly laughed until I realized you were replying to a completely different comment. I thought you were going even more dark joke than I was......and I was STARTING the bar at suicide. I was like "GOD DAMN!!! This dude is even more depraved than I am! I love it!"

And for anyone out there getting worried......I mean........

.....yeah, I don't have a comfortable end to that sentence. This world is getting dark. The next 4 years are going to be bad. Real bad.

[–] Karmmah@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

I hope it's not going to be horrible for most people and since we already live through 4 years of it we probably will live through another four.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 10 points 16 hours ago

The asshole isn't president yet and the extortions and shakedowns have already started

[–] bazus1@lemmy.world 18 points 18 hours ago
[–] WatDabney@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

The US has elected Beavis and Butt-Head.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] bookmeat@lemmynsfw.com 11 points 17 hours ago

Just double the fees for all US shipping for the next four years.

load more comments
view more: next ›