1 of 2 | U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (L) met with President José Raúl Mulino of Panama in Panama City on Sunday. Photo courtesy of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio/
XFeb. 2 (UPI) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned President José Raúl Mulino of Panama on Sunday that the current status of the Panama Canal — which President Donald Trump wants to regain control of — was “unacceptable.”
Rubio met with Mulino on Sunday in Panama City during his first international trip as the United States’ top diplomat. the trip, which began on Saturday, is set to conclude Thursday. He is also scheduled to visit El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.
According to a readout of the meeting from the U.S. State Department, Rubio told Mulino and Foreign Minister Javier Martínez that Trump has made a “preliminary determination” that China’s influence over the Panama Canal, which the United States built in the early 1900s, violated treaties that transferred control of the important trade route from Washington to Panama City.
Rubio, according to the State Department, told Mulino that canal’s “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,” he said, referring to the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal.
On X, Rubio added that me made clear to both Mulino and Martinez “that the United States cannot, and will not allow the Chinese Communist party to continue with its effective and growing control over the Panama Canal area.”
However, according to a statement from the Panamanian presidency’s office, Mulino told Rubio that the canal is an autonomous entity, operating independently from the other ports mentioned.
“I understand that it is a concern of President Donald Trump,” Mulino said, adding that what the U.S. leader is referring to has more to do with the other ports than the Panama Canal itself.
The statement also noted that a technical team from the Panama Canal Authority will assist U.S. government officials “to address any questions regarding the operation of the waterway.”
A recent report from the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations think tank states there is no evidence the Chinese government controls the canal, but a Hong Kong-based conglomerate does control two ports in the region and Beijing has been involved in infrastructure projects in the country, raising concerns about the communist nation’s influence on the important trade route.
Trump has argued repeatedly that China has too much control of the critical canal, and that the United States needs to be fully in charge of the vital transportation waterway for economic security. Mulino has refuted those claims.
