The President's Daily Brief
PDB Afternoon Bulletin | April 10th, 2025: China Seethes As Panama, US Sign New Security Agreement & Russian-American Ballerina Freed In Latest Prisoner Swap
10 Apr 2025
In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin: First, tensions between America and China over the Panama Canal are heating up, as the U.S. inks a new defense and security pact with Panama, and China accuses Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of "spreading rumors and sowing discord" in the region. Later in the show, a Russian-American ballerina who had been wrongfully detained in Russia for more than a year was released from Kremlin custody on Thursday in the latest prisoner swap with the United States. 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 Jacked Up Fitness: Go to https://GetJackedUp.com and use code BAKER at checkout to save 10% off your entire purchase Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
It's Thursday, the 10th of April. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, tensions between America and China over the Panama Canal are heating up. as the U.S. inks a new defense and security pact with Panama, and China accuses Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of, quote, spreading rumors and sowing discord.
Later in the show, a Russian-American ballerina who had been wrongfully detained in Russia for more than a year was freed by the Kremlin on Thursday in the latest prisoner swap with the U.S. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. Tariffs aren't the only serious point of contention currently between the U.S.
and China, as tension builds over the Trump administration's push to exert more influence on the Panama Canal. Chinese Communist Party officials are now accusing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth of deliberately attempting to sow discord in the region.
The latest flare-up came during a trip by Hegseth to Panama earlier this week, where he met with Panamanian leaders in the hopes of strengthening ties to counter what he described as China's quote, malign influence in the region. Now, after a day of meetings, Hegseth announced Wednesday that the U.S.
and Panama had officially signed a new defense and security pact that outlines plans for increased military cooperation between the two nations while reaffirming Panamanian sovereignty over the strategic trade passage. That's according to a report from Fox News.
Officials said the, quote, memorandum of understanding aims to boost military coordination on areas of engineering, security, and cybersecurity to push back against foreign interference. It also seeks to establish a cost-sharing model to cover services provided to U.S. warships and auxiliary vessels operating in the waterway, with the goal of keeping it cost-neutral.
While the broad framework represents some progress for the U.S. regarding President Trump's stated goal of reasserting dominance over the Panama Canal, we should stress that the language of the agreement remains exceedingly vague. Officials with the Panama Canal Authority emphasize that the agreement is simply a starting point for more cooperation that will, quote, be developed in later stages.
But there are currently some conflicting reports about how comprehensive the framework will be. Hegseth claimed on Wednesday that U.S. and Panamanian officials were finalizing a document that would grant U.S. warships and auxiliary vessels priority toll-free passage through the canal.
But Panamanian officials have not confirmed such a deal, and Panama's president has previously pushed back against the concept of granting the U.S. special privileges in the strategic waterway. Still, it appears slow but steady progress is being made to bolster military ties between the U.S. and Panama. As a further show of partnership, the U.S.
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