03 February 2025 , 08:33
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The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has told Panama’s president the country must stop the alleged Chinese influence over the canal - or face the consequences.
US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, met with Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino earlier today.
Rubio said that President Trump had decided that China’s alleged presence in the Panama Canal violates the treaty signed by Panama in 1999.
The treaty turned the waterway over the Panama, from American control, and called for permanent neutrality.
The State Department said, in summary of the meeting: "Secretary Rubio made clear that this status quo is unacceptable and that absent immediate changes, it would require the United States to take measures necessary to protect its rights under the treaty."
Panamanian President Mulino said: "I don’t feel like there’s a real threat against the treaty and its validity."
After the face-to-face meeting, Mulino added: "We spoke extensively about the problem of migration, with the understanding that Panama is a transit point."
It was Mr Rubio’s first foreign trip as the Secretary of State.
Trump has demanded the canal be returned to US control previously.
In December last year, he suggested he may try to regain control on the Panama Canal after describing the deal to sell the passage to Panama as ’foolish’.
Trump contends that shippers are charged "ridiculous" fees to pass through the vital transportation channel linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
At the December rally, he said: "We’re being ripped off at the Panama Canal."
The US relinquished control of the waterway to Panama in 1999 under a treaty signed in 1977 under President Jimmy Carter.
The canal is crucial for Panama’s economy and generates about one-fifth of that government’s annual revenue.
It was heavily affected by droughts in Central America in 2023 that forced it to substantially reduce the number of daily slots for crossing ships.