The President's Daily Brief
March 14th, 2025: Pentagon Draws Up Plans For Retaking The Panama Canal & Taiwan Hits Back At China's Infiltration And Espionage Campaign
14 Mar 2025
In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: First up, the White House has directed the Pentagon to draw up several options for increasing the American troop presence in Panama in order to achieve President Trump’s goal of "retaking" the Panama Canal. These plans reportedly range from partnering with local security forces to seizing the strategic trade route by force. Later in the show, negotiations between Israel and Hamas on extending their fragile ceasefire in Gaza have reportedly stalled, though the White House is scrambling to find a temporary fix to prevent a return to fighting. Plus, tensions are once again simmering in the South China Sea, as Taiwan's president warns that Beijing has expanded its influence campaigns, infiltration efforts and spying operations in an attempt to weaken the island’s defenses. In our 'Back of the Brief' segment, a plane carrying Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte landed in the Netherlands on Wednesday, where he was formally transferred into the custody of the International Criminal Court and taken to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
It's Friday, the 14th of March. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. Look at that. We've made it to the end of another week. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right. Let's get briefed.
First up, the White House has directed the Pentagon to draw up several options for increasing the American troop presence in Panama in order to achieve President Trump's goal of, quote, retaking the Panama Canal. These plans reportedly range from partnering with local security forces to seizing the strategic trade route by force.
Later in the show, negotiations between Israel and Hamas on extending their fragile ceasefire in Gaza have reportedly stalled, though the White House is scrambling to find a temporary fix to prevent a return to fighting.
Plus, tensions are once again rising in the South China Sea, as Taiwan's president warns that Beijing has expanded its influence campaigns, infiltration efforts, and spying operations in an attempt to weaken the island's defenses.
And in today's Back of the Brief, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was taken into custody by the International Criminal Court, the ICC, in the Netherlands on Wednesday on murder charges, following his arrest in Manila over a bloody years-long drug war that left thousands dead. But first, today's PDB Spotlight.
President Trump is intensifying his push to carve out a new sphere of influence for America by potentially seizing overseas territories, with his sights trained squarely right now on the Panama Canal. According to an exclusive report from NBC News, the White House has directed the U.S.
military to begin drawing up plans for boosting America's troop presence in Panama in order to, quote, "...reclaim the strategic waterway and diminish China's influence in the region."
The options reportedly vary, from partnering with Panamanian security forces to secure the port operations, to essentially invading Panama and seizing the canal outright, though officials said the use of the military force is a far less likely outcome. Sources with U.S.
Southern Command told NBC News that whether or not some form of military action is taken will depend entirely on how willing Panamanian leaders are to cooperate with U.S. efforts. While details are sparse, officials said that the commander of U.S. Southern Command, Admiral Alvin Halsey, presented draft strategies to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth earlier this week.
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