WATCH: 'We're taking' back the Panama Canal, Trump says | 2025 Trump address to Congress

President Donald Trump reiterated his promise to reclaim the Panama Canal during his March 4 address to a joint session of Congress.

"The Panama Canal was built by Americans for Americans, not for others, but others could use it," Trump said.

Trump also raised an unfounded claim that China had any influence or control over the canal.

The first speech of Trump’s second term in office, while not officially a State of the Union address, is a chance for the president to lay out legislative priorities and tout early achievements.

Trump has moved to deliver on some of his campaign promises at breakneck speed, signing more than 75 executive orders in little more than a month. Thousands of federal workers have been fired at the direction of the Department of Government Efficiency and Trump adviser and billionaire Elon Musk.

Close to half of Americans in the latest PBS News/NPR/Marist poll disapprove of Trump’s job performance so far, but his approval rating, at 45 percent, is higher than at any point of his first term. While 54 percent of Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction, 45 percent believe the country is on the right track, a 10-point jump from December 2024.

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