U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday called the Panama Canal "a VITAL National Asset for the United States," threatening to retake the canal, citing "exorbitant prices" on U.S. ships.

In a Truth Social post, Trump claimed that Panama has been treating the United States "in a very unfair and injudicious way" by charging U.S. Navy and commercial vessels transiting the waterway "exorbitant prices and rates of passage."

"This complete 'rip-off' of our Country will immediately stop," Trump said.

Panama Canal, now a vital international maritime trade route connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, was returned to Panamanian control in 1999 according to the Torrijos-Carter Treaties signed in 1977 under pressure from the Panamanian people.

In 1903, the United States signed a treaty with the newly independent state of Panama to construct the canal. After its inauguration in 1914, the canal and its surrounding area, known as the Panama Canal Zone, were administered and governed under U.S. jurisdiction.

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