U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Panama during his first overseas trip in the post, a source told Reuters on Thursday, as President Donald Trump makes a push for the United States to take back the Panama Canal that has angered the Central American country.
Rubio is expected to depart on Jan. 31 and travel during the first week of February, making additional stops in Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and El Salvador, according to the source who was familiar with the plans.
Planning for the trip is still ongoing and the itinerary is subject to change, the source added.
Asked about the trip, the U.S. State Department on Thursday said it did not have travel plans to announce at this time.
Trump has accused Panama of breaking the promises it made for the final transfer of the strategic waterway in 1999 and of ceding its operation to China – accusations that the Panamanian government has strongly denied.
“We didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back,” Trump said in his inaugural address on Monday.
The canal is an 82-km (51-mile) waterway that connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans through Panama and is critical to U.S. imports of autos and commercial goods by container ships from Asia, and for U.S. exports of commodities, including liquefied natural gas.
In his inaugural address on Monday, President Donald Trump devoted more than a minute to his pledge to take the Panama Canal back from Panamanian control. In response, Panamanian president José Raúl Mulino, a conservative populist and American-trained maritime lawyer, reiterated that the Canal belongs to Panama.
“The Canal is and will continue to be Panama’s and its administration will continue to be under Panamanian control with respect to its permanent neutrality,” Mulino said. “For 25 years, without interruption, we have managed and expanded it responsibly to serve the world and its commerce, including the United States.”
France and the U.S. built the original canal at the turn of the last century, at the cost of an estimated 300 American lives. About 25,000 foreign laborers perished as well, including roughly 20,000 who died of injury and disease during the French phase of project management. After the U.S. government secured Panama’s independence from Colombia and won control of the canal zone in 1903, the project was completed under the Army Corps of Engineers’ management. The first ship passed through in 1914, and the canal was administered by American forces until its final transfer to local control in 1999.
A Panamanian-financed and -built upgrade, the “New Panama Canal,” was completed in 2016 and now accounts for the majority of Canal Zone revenue. In 2023, the older American-built section delivered about 45 percent of total Canal Zone earnings. Both are operated by the Autoridad del Canal de Panama (ACP), a division of the Panamanian government.
