Why Suez makes Panama financially imaginable

The US Navy had a clear strategic reason to want a Panama crossing, but financing construction across difficult terrain was a much harder problem. In this counterfactual, an unbuilt Suez removes the clearest proof that such an enormous canal could repay its investors. Congress is unlikely to fund an arduous canal through a foreign country solely to make fleet movements easier. Even a hypothetical route across the United States or northern Mexico would create daunting engineering, security, and political problems.