Panama’s strategic and symbolic importance place it at the heart of growing trade tensions. PANAMA CITY—In Panama’s presidential election, it’s what was left unsaid that resonates most. The winner of the May 5 vote, Laurentino “Nito” Cortizo is a 66-year-old

Decades have passed since tiny Panama ranked among Washington’s big national security concerns. The 1989 U.S. invasion notwithstanding, the two nations have enjoyed largely cordial relations since the Panama Canal handover in December 1999. A boom in canal transits that include two-thirds