Recalling the day in 1999 when former President Jimmy Carter completed a historic handoff. The journalist David Gonzalez was at the Miraflores locks in Panama on Dec. 14, 1999, to record this milestone for the front page of The New York Times:

The canal was turned over to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999. For Carter, the deal signified a new beginning of mutual respect and cooperation between the U.S. and Latin America, as he said in his speech in 1978. It also showed “the last remnant of alleged American colonialism is being removed” during a time when the world moved away from imperialism.

After Donald Trump suggested the U.S. can retake control of the canal if it’s not “treated fairly,” Panama’s president pushed back.

The Panama Canal, often heralded as one of the wonders of the modern world, is far more than a feat of engineering -- it is a cornerstone of U.S. national security and economic prosperity. This vital maritime shortcut has connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for over a century,