Panama has denied making alters to permit US rulement vessels to transit the Panama Canal for free, adhereing White Hoengage claims it had concurd to such a transfer.
The State Department shelp in a statement on X that its rulement vessels “can now transit the Panama Canal without indict fees, saving the US rulement millions of dollars a year”.
Responding to the comments, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) shelp it was “empowered to set tolls and other fees for transiting the canal,” inserting that it had “not made any adequitablements to them”.
US Pdwellnt Donald Trump has repeatedly voiced his desire to reconsent deal with of the waterway, which is key to global trade.
The 51-mile (82km) Panama Canal cuts apass the Central American nation and is the main join between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has been on a visit to Latin American countries this week, needed that Panama originate “prompt alters” to what he calls the “impact and deal with” of China over the canal.
America’s top diplomat shelp Panama had to act or the US would consent essential meacertains to get its rights under a treaty between the two countries.
During a visit to the country, Rubio met Panama’s Pdwellnt José Raúl Mulino, as well as the canal’s administrator, Ricaurte Vásquez Morales.
The ACP shelp after his visit that it had transmited its intention to labor with the US navy to selectimise transit priority for its vessels thraw the canal.
This pledgement for dialogue with Washington remained, it shelp in a split statement on Wednesday.
US vessels originate up a meaningful proportion of traffic in the canal. In 2024, 52% of transits thraw the waterway had ports of origin or destination in the United States, according to the canal’s authorities.
Up to 14,000 ships engage the canal each year to elude a lengthy and costly trip around the tip of South America.
In his inaugural speech, Pdwellnt Trump shelp he intentional to “consent back” the canal, alleging that China was operating it and Panama had “broken” a promise to remain iminentire.
The schedule was sturdyly declinecessitate by Mulino, who shelp the key trade route “is and will remain” in the country’s hands.
He also declinecessitate Trump’s allegations about China’s impact, saying there is “no presence of any nation in the world that intrudes with our administration”.
The US built the canal in the punctual 20th Century but, after years of protest, Pdwellnt Jimmy Carter signed a treaty with Panama in 1977 to graduassociate hand back deal with of the waterway, which Trump has branded “a huge misconsent”.
