As most people are aware, the Suez Canal was blocked earlier this year for six days (March 23-29). According to the Suez Canal Authority, which maintains and operates the waterway, the canal has closed five times since it opened for navigation in 1869. Interestingly, the Panama Canal has never been blocked, and has only been closed for a day. That occurred in 1989, when U.S. military forces staged an assault in Panama to depose the country’s leader, Manuel Noriega. A shortcut to the Orient The idea of creating a water passage across the isthmus of Panama to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans dates back to at least the 1500s, when King Charles I of Spain (whose nation laid claim to most of Central and South America) instructed his regional governor to survey a route along the Chagres River. A shorter water route from Europe to Asia across Central America was the goal. However, engineering and other challenges of building a canal across the mountainous, jungle terrain proved much too daunting for the engineering knowledge of the time.
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Reflects new realities . of the global economy. governments need more money and we are all aware of these i stories of amazon and apple and starbucks sending - their money to places . where they re not doing business, where theyj can pay lower taxes places like panama and bermuda, luxembourg, the netherlands, i ireland. and of course it is tax . avoidance, on a technical level. for us as consumers, and as taxpayers in the uk see, on the high streets and main i streets in the us and elsewhere closing down their shops . because amazon has taken the business away, this - is revenue that s being lost and the taxation goes - with those closing shops. they need to recover, - it needs to come back in real dollars that can be sent to support governmentl infrastructure, government operations and building - a future. simon, how does this,
Governments need more money and we are all aware of these i stories of amazon and apple and starbucks sending - their money to places . where they re not doing business, where theyj can pay lower taxes places like panama and | bermuda, luxembourg, the netherlands, ireland. and of course - it is tax avoidance, on a technical level. for us as consumers, and as taxpayers in the uk see, on the high streets and main i streets in the us and elsewhere closing down their shops . because amazon has taken the business away, this - is revenue that s being lost and the taxation goes - with those closing shops. they need to recover, - it needs to come back in real dollars that can be sent to support governmentl infrastructure, government operations and building - a future. simon, how does this, in terms of the implementation,
In three countries ireland, luxembourg and the netherlands which, surprise, surprise, have comparatively low corporate tax rates, but which only accounted for, i think, 5% or 15% of their sales maximum, in 2018 figures. janet yellen, the us treasury secretary, must be rubbing her hands with glee at the prospect of this. this is an early victory for her, for sure. - she is respected and a seasoned diplomat in the financial world. this is something that she very much wanted and, you know, i this is something that really represents the shift - from the trump white house to the biden white house - and it reflects new realities of the global economy. - governments need more money and we are all aware of these i stories of amazon and apple and starbucks sending - their money to places . where they re not doing business, where theyj can pay lower taxes places like panama and | bermuda, luxembourg, the netherlands, ireland.
[ applause ] which brings me to one of the reasons i m here at this port. one of the things we should be focused on is helping more businesses sell more products to the rest of the world and the only way those products get out is through facilities like this. right now, exports are one of the brightest spots in our economy. thanks in part to new trade deals we signed with corrupts like panama and columbiaen an south korea. we now export more goods and services than ever before. that means jobs right here in the united states of america. last year, every $1 billion. all right, president obama is there in the port of new orleans talking about ports, roads, airports, u.s. exports, infrastructure spending. and really, gloria, our chief political analyst, it s kind of like anything but obama care. anything but obama care. he had some good jobs numbers today. we heard him tell those. he wants to get back to
Humanitarian problems right now but frals the logistical perspective, betty and rob. no doubt. just one problem compiled on another one. s not just chile. it s plenty of other countries that are faced with a possible tsunami. exactly. and the problem is that we haven t heard from a lot of the coastal areas not only in chile but we re talking about peru, countries like panama, costa rica, where the original tsunami was supposed to affect all of those areas. we don t know what the situation is there and that s something we ll be following closely in the next rafael, we re getting notification that a local tsunami hit at a buoy, seven feet, not terribly high but could have grown larger as it reached land. we are curious what has happened along the that coastline. we appreciate it, rafael.