Democrat Congresswoman Calls Trump's 'Preposterous' Play For Panama Canal A Bid to Please Billionaires

A Florida Democrat called out President-elect Donald Trump's "preposterous" threat to take back control of the Panama Canal because the U.S. is being "ripped off."

"It is utterly preposterous to suggest that we are going to send our military into Panama to, quote, take back the Panama Canal," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said on CNN Thursday.

"We have a treaty with Panama. We have a free trade agreement with Panama. We are no more going to take back the Panama Canal than Panama is going to come in and try to take the Mississippi River from us," she said.

Wasserman Schultz claimed Trump has an ulterior motive.

"What Donald Trump is really trying to do here is try to get better fees for passage for his corporate and billionaire allies," she said. "That's what this boils down to. And it's preposterous."

Trump in remarks in a recent speech in Arizona and in posts on social media has suggested seizing the Panama Canal and buying Greenland.

"Our Navy and Commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way," Trump said. "The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the U.S."

Control of the canal, which the United States built in the early 1900s to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, was turned over to Panama in 1999 under a treaty President Jimmy Carter signed in 1977.

Wasserman Schultz likened Trump's talk about Panama and Greenland to a "carnival barker."

"What we need to do is make sure that we strengthen our relationships with our allies and treaty partners like Panama, not make ridiculous carnival barker threats like buying Greenland — which isn't for sale, and we're not going to acquire — and invading Panama to take back the canal," she said.