U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, has announced a full committee hearing to discuss the Panama Canal’s significance to U.S. trade and national security. The hearing, titled “Fees and Foreign Influence: Examining the Panama Canal and Its Impact on U.S. Trade and National Security,” is scheduled for January 28, 2025, at 10:00 am EST.
The session will address several issues related to the canal, including its critical role in facilitating U.S. seaborne container trade, challenges arising from capacity constraints and increasing fees, as well as concerns over foreign influence by countries such as China.
Senator Cruz emphasized the canal’s importance by stating: “Serving forty percent of U.S. seaborne container trade, the Panama Canal is vital to American economic and national security interests. The United States paid for and built the Panama Canal, but Panama is treating America unfairly and ceding control of key infrastructure to China.”
The list of witnesses includes Louis E. Sola, Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), Daniel B. Maffei, Commissioner at FMC; Eugene Kontorovich from Scalia Law School at George Mason University; Joseph Kramek, President & CEO of World Shipping Council; with an additional witness yet to be announced.
The hearing will take place in the Committee Hearing Room at Russell 253 and will be available via livestream on both the Committee Website and YouTube.
For media attendance inquiries, reporters are advised to contact their respective media galleries for RSVP details.
