Jared Mitovich reports from Panama on its U.S.-China balance

President of Panama José Raúl Mulino

Photo by Jared Mitovich

During the summer 2025, Jared spent three weeks reporting from Panama City, Panama, where he covered the country’s delicate position in U.S. President Donald Trump's fight with China over the Panama Canal. He spoke with 18 government officials, foreign policy experts, diplomats, and business elites, including two former mayors of Panama City and the head of the country’s Panameñista party. He also examined the status of 55 Chinese projects in Panama and collected public records on Chinese ties to the country since 2017, when Panama joined China's global infrastructure investment program.

Jared’s reporting, published in POLITICO Magazine, took him to a press conference with Panama President José Raúl Mulino, the heart of the Panama Canal, and storefronts in Panama City’s Chinatown neighborhood. He also contributed to The Bocas Breeze, an English-language Panamanian news source, on social media.

Through interviews and analysis, Jared traced how Panama’s leaders are navigating tricky terrain: balancing Trump’s demand for a breakup with China along with an increasingly restive public. The country sent a low-level diplomat to a high-level summit between China and Latin America, and its ministers have not met publicly with Chinese officials since November. Since January, it replaced two major Chinese contracts with U.S. firms and is cozying up to Amazon in hopes of securing another. And the country has yet to address a rare vacancy in Chinese representation on the Panama Canal's advisory board.

Meanwhile, Trump’s threats have continued to tear through Panamanian politics, business, technology, and culture — leaving those caught in the middle to question their country’s future with the U.S. and China.

Following his time in Panama, Jared will join The Wall Street Journal in September as a News Associate. He plans to continue using data, public records, and on-the-ground reporting to tell global stories about the localized impacts of money, power, and influence.

Jared graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2025 and received the Overseas Press Club Foundation Emanuel R. Freedman Scholar Award the same year.