US Transfer of Panama Canal Control to Panama on December 31, 1999

The United States did not "give up" the canal unilaterally. Under the Torrijos–Carter Treaties (1977), the U.S. agreed to transfer full control of the Panama Canal to Panama at noon on December 31, 1999. The Panama Canal Authority (ACP), an autonomous Panamanian agency, has operated it since. The U.S. retains the right to defend the canal's neutrality under the Neutrality Treaty. The transfer was a peaceful, scheduled handover, not a surrender.