President-elect Trump said on Tuesday that negotiating away the Panama Canal was a "very big mistake" by former President Jimmy Carter – ahead of Carter's state funeral later this week.

Trump said at a press conference that he believes the canal, which he would like the the U.S. to reclaim, is why Carter lost the 1980 presidential election to Ronald Reagan, who also opposed the treaty Carter negotiated to hand over the canal.

"It's a bad part of the Carter legacy," Trump said.

"He was a good man. I knew him a little bit, and he was a very fine person. But that was a big mistake."

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"Giving the Panama Canal to Panama was a very big mistake. We lost 38,000 people. It cost us the equivalent of a trillion dollars, maybe more... They say it was the most expensive structure… ever built. And giving that away was a horrible thing. And I believe that's why Jimmy Carter lost the election, even more so than the hostages," he said.

Speaking in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump lamented the fact Carter purportedly "gave" the canal lands back to the Panamanians "for $1." According to reports, no part of the treaty mentioned a $1 sale.

"I thought [giving the canal back] was a terrible thing to do," Trump said.

When reporters pressed Trump on criticizing Carter on the day of his Washington wake, the president-elect said he was a "very fine person" but that his politics left something to be desired.

Trump has also sparred verbally with Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino about his plans for the canal.

However, more than a century ago, another Republican – Theodore Roosevelt – celebrated the way the United States spearheaded the canal project in part through some diplomatic maneuvering.

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In the early 1900s, as the Colombian Senate balked at a treaty favoring U.S. control, Panama was in the process of declaring its independence from Bogota – and America quickly recognized the new nation and effectively circumvented the Colombians.

In 1903, President Roosevelt boasted of the accomplishment.

"Fortunately, the crisis came at a period when I could act unhampered [by Congress]. Accordingly, I took the Isthmus, started the canal and then left Congress not to debate the canal, but to debate me," he said. 

Trump’s plans to retake the canal have earned him praise from otherwise regular critics.

Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Sen. John McCain – with whom Trump often sparred – backed the man she otherwise tends to critique.

"Trump is right about the Panama Canal. This is very personal – my dad was born in the Panama Canal Zone."

The elder McCain was born in 1936 at the then-Coco Solo U.S. Navy installation – as a U.S. citizen since the canal zone was controlled by Americans.

The late Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina also expressed reservations about canal negotiations in the 1970s.

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In a letter to then-President Ford, Thurmond warned the Panamanians were cozying up to the Communist Cuban government, and that "any action on the part of the United States that indicates the slightest position of weakness or a willingness to accommodate anti-American sentiment in Panama, would result in many other Latin American countries moving in the same leftward direction."

Thurmond led 35 senators in crafting a resolution opposing what he called the surrender of U.S. sovereignty in the PCZ.

"Any loss of control of the Canal would be extremely detrimental to our vital interests, especially in Latin America. We should make it clear that U.S. vital interests there are not negotiable."

Carter's negotiations led to Panama taking full control of the canal by 1999. His other major diplomatic negotation – peace accords between Egypt and Israel – also remain intact today.

President-elect Trump has tapped Andrew Ferguson to serve as chair of the Federal Trade Commission, the anti-trust agency of which he already serves as a commissioner. 

"Andrew has a proven record of standing up to Big Tech censorship, and protecting Freedom of Speech in our Great Country," Trump said in a Tuesday statement posted to his Truth Social network. "Andrew will be the most America First, and pro-innovation FTC Chair in our Country’s History."

"Andrew will be the most America First, and pro-innovation FTC Chair in our Country’s History," he added.

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Ferguson is one of two Republican commissioners on the five-member panel chaired by Lina Khan. Ferguson, who also served as the solicitor general of Virginia, was appointed to the commission by President Biden and joined the FTC on April 2. 

The FTC is charged with acting as an anti-trust and consumer protection agency. 

The replacement of Khan likely means that the FTC will operate with a lighter touch when it comes to antitrust enforcement. The new chair is expected to appoint new directors of the FTC's antitrust and consumer protection divisions.

Khan became a lightning rod for Wall Street and Silicon Valley by blocking billions of dollars' worth of corporate acquisitions and suing Amazon and Meta while alleging anticompetitive behavior.

Under Khan, the FTC blocked a proposed merger between Korger and Albertsons, two large supermarket chains which forged a $24.6 billion deal in 2022. 

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On Tuesday, a judge halted the merger after the FTC filed a lawsuit to block the move, alleging it would lead to high prices and lower wages for workers. 

Ferguson's experience could signal continued scrutiny of large tech companies. 

In a statement earlier this month, he called for the prosecution of "unlawful collision" between online platforms that could limit "Americans’ ability to exchange ideas freely and openly."

"In particular, we must vigorously enforce the antitrust laws against any platforms found to be unlawfully limiting Americans’ ability to exchange ideas freely and openly," he wrote. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

President-elect Trump said he spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, saying she has agreed to "stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States" following threats this week to significantly tariff goods from coming into the U.S. from its southern neighbor. 

Trump vowed to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada if both nations failed to do more to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into the U.S. Sheinbaum, who recently took office, said on Wednesday that Mexico would retaliate if Trump followed through on his promise. 

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"If there are U.S. tariffs, Mexico would also raise tariffs," she said during a press conference. 

On Wednesday, Trump said he spoke with his Sheinbaum about the matter. 

"Just had a wonderful conversation with the new President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo," he wrote on Truth Social. "She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border. We also talked about what can be done to stop the massive drug inflow into the United States, and also, U.S. consumption of these drugs. It was a very productive conversation!"

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In a subsequent post, he said that: "Mexico will stop people from going to our Southern Border, effective immediately. THIS WILL GO A LONG WAY TOWARD STOPPING THE ILLEGAL INVASION OF THE USA. Thank you!!!"

In a post on X, Sheinbaum said she spoke with Trump by phone and that the two discussed "strengthening collaboration on security issues" and that the conversation was "excellent," Reuters reported. 

Trump has long complained that Mexico has failed to do enough to stop the flow of migrants and illicit drugs on its side of the southern border.  

In a post on X, Sheinbaum said she explained the "comprehensive strategy" Mexico has employed to address the "the migration phenomenon, respecting human rights."

"Thanks to this, migrants and caravans are assisted before they reach the border," she wrote. "We reiterate that Mexico's position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples."

Trump also threatened to impose an additional 10% tariff on China over the massive amounts of fentanyl coming into the U.S. from Mexico. 

U.S. officials have frequently said that illicit fentanyl is manufactured in Mexico using Chinese precursors and then smuggled across the border by drug cartels.

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and can be fatal in small doses, has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans and is a factor in many drug overdose deaths. 

On Wednesday, Trump said he would be working on a large-scale ad campaign explaining the dangers of fentanyl. 

"Millions of lives being so needlessly destroyed. By the time the Campaign is over, everyone will know how really bad the horror of this Drug is," he said.

In response to the threat of more tariffs, the China Daily newspaper – which is run by the Chinese Communist Party – published an editorial Tuesday saying, "The excuse the president-elect has given to justify his threat of additional tariffs on imports from China is far-fetched," according to Reuters.

Fox News Digital's Greg Norman contributed to this report.