US Secretary of State to visit Panama amid Trump's statements on returning canal
Photo: Marco Rubio makes his first foreign visit in his new position (Getty Images)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to visit Panama as part of his trip to Latin America next week. This emphasizes the seriousness of President Donald Trump's intentions to return the Panama Canal, according to Bloomberg.
Rubio also plans to visit Guatemala, El Salvador, and Costa Rica. He will also visit the Dominican Republic, where the Summit of the Americas, which is usually attended by the US president, will take place later this year.
This trip is expected to be Marco Rubio's first since being sworn into office. It emphasizes Trump's focus on stopping illegal migration through Central America and deporting people to their home countries.
Usually, the first trip of the head of the State Department takes place to a geopolitically important US ally: predecessors Antony Blinken went to Japan and Rex Tillerson to Germany.
Earlier, Trump called on the United States to regain control of the Panama Canal if the cost of passage for military and commercial vessels is not reduced.
Panama Canal
During his inaugural speech, Trump said that the Panamanian authorities are not fulfilling their responsibilities for managing the Panama Canal.
The American president emphasized that the most important thing was that China was running the canal. He explained that they had given the canal not to China, but to Panama and that they were taking it back.
Panamanian President Jose Mulino strongly condemned Trump's statement.
He said that the canal belonged and would continue to belong to Panama and that its management would remain under Panamanian control while maintaining permanent neutrality. He added that no state in the world could interfere in the management of the canal.
He also added that Panama has been responsibly managing and expanding the Panama Canal since 1999 in the interests of the world and trade.
