Rossticus said:

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We should be doing this in every central and South American country in which China is attempting to gain a foothold, before it's too late.

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I bet we might be able to help them with some of their scum criminals who are illegally in the US and find a way to make them nobody's problem

So Fantastic!!!!

Welcome to four hours ago.
https://texags.com/forums/16/topics/3523580/last

TxAg8908 said:

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Liberals everywhere acting like this is a bad thing

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I think even some of them are actually shocked at how quickly things are getting done after the last four years. The other ones are just fuming. It's also showing how completely incompetent they are … and insane.

Pumpkinhead said:

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Resident of Panama here. That tweet is a bit misleading of what the Panama president said. He said they would not renew the Belt & Road initiative with China. Which is China's ambitious infrastructure investments that 120+ countries world wide are participating in. Basically Panama has said they will stop taking China's money if the U.S. invests in the infrastructure instead.

Panama is a very pro-US country. Many of the people in government here have studied at U.S. universities including the current president who went to Tulane for example. They will happily work with the U.S. as long as the U.S. is willing to open the checkbook. U.S. has been asleep here for a couple decades and Chinese money partly filled the void. Not personal. Just business.

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Dollar Diplomacy. It works.

Ag87H2O said:

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I don't care what the Democrats think, but this is impressive. Walk tall and carry a big stick. The U.S. should never have to play from a weak hand, and Trump knows this and how to leverage it.

I guess the Chinese are learning about the Trump Doctrine.

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This is a good thing but it won't come for free. The U.S. will have to step up to the plate to replace the China money.

For example, a future project that is in the works is a train service connecting Panama to Costa Rica. That is the sort of Latin American infrastructure project that China with their Belt & Road initiative would be providing financial support to China companies so that they could make bids to get those projects.

The U.S. government needs to assist American companies similarly with financial backing and other regulation changes to better compete with China in these international projects.

A 'stick' alone will only get you so far. There has to be a lot of substantial carrots and the U.S. doing more on their side and that will be a good thing.

Pumpkinhead said:

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Resident of Panama here. That tweet is a bit misleading of what the Panama president said. He said they would not renew the Belt & Road initiative with China. Which is China's ambitious infrastructure investments that 120+ countries world wide are participating in. Basically Panama has said they will stop taking China's money if the U.S. invests in the infrastructure instead.

Panama is a very pro-US country. Many of the people in government here have studied at U.S. universities including the current president who went to Tulane for example. They will happily work with the U.S. as long as the U.S. is willing to open the checkbook. U.S. has been asleep here for a couple decades and Chinese money partly filled the void. Not personal. Just business.

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Panama got checked against the boards and fell in line, as they should.

They have zero leverage. They need to sit down and stfu, first and foremost.

US leadership is back again. China can go get ****ed.

Gaeilge said:

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Is the comment about voiding the current agreement misleading as well?

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That is accurate and yes, per my post. And my educated guess is in return the U.S. government will be stepping up more to help U.S. companies bid for infrastructure development projects such as that train railway connecting Panama to Costa Rica among other things.

Basically China particularly the last decade with their Belt & Road initiative has been helping subsidize Chinese companies to build roads, bridges, ports, etc. all over the world including Latin America and there has understandably being some concern about growing China economic influence. Seems like the U.S. is finally reacting some, at least in some strategically important countries like Panama.