The United States on Monday applauded Panama’s overwhelming vote in favor of widening its canal, an eight-year project that will cost $5.25 billion and should lower prices for shoppers on the East Coast buying goods from Asia.
The massive project, which would add a third set of locks on the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the waterway, is expected to double the 50-mile canal’s capacity, allowing container ships, cruise liners and gas tankers currently too wide for its dimensions to squeeze through.