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U.S. - Panama Relations
The United States and Panama cooperate on numerous fronts, including migration in the Western Hemisphere. Indeed, both nations have signed a Bilateral Arrangement on Migration and Protection including commitments to improve migration management, expand stabilization efforts, and increase access to legal pathways and protection for those in the region.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted the U.S. signed the first arrangement with Costa Rica, and the United States hopes to announce more in the coming weeks and months.
“This is how we deepen our coordination, and this is how we make more progress in helping vulnerable people, support communities, and protect the security of our borders,” said Secretary Blinken. “Our work together is going to continue at the Summit of the Americas in June, where we hope that leaders from across the region will be able to lay out shared principles for a shared response to regional migration and forced displacement.”
The partnership between Panama and the United States is one of the closest that we have in the Americas, said Secretary Blinken. “Our economic relationship is strong, with more than $13 billion in bilateral trade between us that’s supporting thousands of jobs in both our countries, and 72 percent of all goods that travel through the Panama Canal are either going to or coming from the United States.”
The United States serves as the largest humanitarian donor to international organizations in Panama, and their work complements Panama’s own assistance to migrants and refugees. Both nations work closely on counterterrorism and counternarcotics through their security cooperation and combating organized crime and money laundering through law enforcement cooperation.
The United States and Panama also fight COVID-19 together. More than 70 percent of Panama’s population is fully vaccinated, an achievement that the United States supported with a donation of more than 500,000 Pfizer vaccine doses.
Secretary Blinken applauded Panama’s leadership on climate, including the work that Panama has done on reforestation and decreasing energy emissions.
The United States welcomes Panama’s leadership in building a more secure, prosperous, and democratic hemisphere.