This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.
You are actually radioactive.
And everything alive is unexpected elements from the BBC World Service.
Search for unexpected elements wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
Welcome to the Inquiry with me, Gary O'Donoghue.
One question, four expert witnesses, and an answer.
At 51 miles long, the Panama Canal, linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, is a vital artery for the global economy.
Originally built with American money more than 100 years ago, it's now owned and run by the Panamanian government.
But Donald Trump says that must change.
China is operating the Panama Canal, and.
We didn't give it to China.
We gave it to, gave it to.
Panama and we're taking it back.
President Trump believes Chinese companies, and through them, the government in Beijing,
have taken control of the canal and pose a strategic threat to the United States right in America's backyard.
He also says Panama is ripping off American business with rising charges to use the waterway.
He's refused to rule out the use of military or economic coercion to take it back.
It's drawn an angry reaction from Panamanians,
some of whom have burned effigies of President Trump and his secretary of State,
Marco Rubio, whose first stop on his maiden trip was to Panama.