I suspect he is moving towards buying the canal. He will control it as the owner. This seems to be his *modus operandi*, bash them over the head until they sell. I noticed that he did the same thing to Colombia. The threatened bashing was too much to bear for the Colombians.

Exactly. If it's a priority to the regime to openly control the Panama Canal, rather than de facto control it, then they will take control over it. I do think Trump has a strong preference for doing it through negotiation (including threats of violence, unfortunately), rather than taking it by force.

Undisciplined

Politics_And_Law

A Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine? | The Libertarian Institute

Trump's corollary to the Monroe Doctrine seems to still be in the formative stages. He has already put Colombia in its place over repatriation problems and I think that he will probably make Panama return or buy back the Canal Zone for security reasons. Security reasons may be a preeminent policy making device for both Trump and Rubio. We can only hope that they use money rather than barefaced coercion.