ReutersPanama has denied making adjustments to permit US authorities vessels to transit the Panama Canal without spending a dime, following White Home claims it had agreed to such a transfer.
The State Division mentioned in an announcement on X that its authorities vessels “can now transit the Panama Canal with out cost charges, saving the US authorities tens of millions of {dollars} a 12 months”.
Responding to the feedback, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) mentioned it was “empowered to set tolls and different charges for transiting the canal,” including that it had “not made any changes to them”.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly voiced his need to retake management of the waterway, which is vital to international commerce.
The 51-mile (82km) Panama Canal cuts throughout the Central American nation and is the principle hyperlink between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has been on a go to to Latin American nations this week, demanded that Panama make “fast adjustments” to what he calls the “affect and management” of China over the canal.
America’s prime diplomat mentioned Panama needed to act or the US would take vital measures to guard its rights below a treaty between the 2 nations.
Throughout a go to to the nation, Rubio met Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino, in addition to the canal’s administrator, Ricaurte Vásquez Morales.
The ACP mentioned after his go to that it had conveyed its intention to work with the US navy to optimise transit precedence for its vessels by means of the canal.
This dedication for dialogue with Washington remained, it mentioned in a separate assertion on Wednesday.
US vessels make up a major proportion of site visitors within the canal. In 2024, 52% of transits by means of the waterway had ports of origin or vacation spot in the USA, in keeping with the canal’s authorities.
As much as 14,000 ships use the canal annually to keep away from a prolonged and dear journey across the tip of South America.
In his inaugural speech, President Trump mentioned he deliberate to “take again” the canal, alleging that China was working it and Panama had “damaged” a promise to stay impartial.
The plan was strongly rejected by Mulino, who mentioned the important thing commerce route “is and can stay” within the nation’s arms.
He additionally rejected Trump’s allegations about China’s affect, saying there may be “no presence of any nation on the earth that interferes with our administration”.
The US constructed the canal within the early twentieth Century however, after years of protest, President Jimmy Carter signed a treaty with Panama in 1977 to step by step hand again management of the waterway, which Trump has branded “an enormous mistake”.