The Panama Canal Authority (PCA) has rejected claims that US government vehicles will pass through the canal for free, as the White House looks to build up its influence and control over the waterway.
The US State Department had said in a social media post on X/Twitter that the PCA had agreed to let US vessels travel through the canal without charge.
“US government vessels can now transit the Panama Canal without charge fees, saving the US government millions of dollars a year,” the department said in the post.
Nothing agreed
The PCA, which administers the canal, rejected this claim.
In a post, the organisation said it was "empowered to set tolls and other fees for transiting the canal," adding that it had "not made any adjustments to them".
The PCA added it wanted to “establish a dialogue” with the relevant people within the US in regard to the transmission of American vessels.
US control
US president Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wanted to take ownership of the canal.
His secretary of state, former Florida senator Marco Rubio, met with Panama’s president, José Raúl Mulino, last Sunday (2 February), where he discussed the situation in the central American passage.
In a meeting, Rubio told Mulino and Panamanian foreign minister, Javier Martínez-Acha, that he was concerned about Chinese influence in the canal.
PCA neutrality
According to State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce, Rubio said:
“President Trump has made a preliminary determination that the current position of influence and control of the Chinese Communist Party over the Panama Canal area is a threat to the canal.”
Rubio added that this would be a violation of a treaty guaranteeing neutrality in the Panama Canal, and said that the US would take “take measures necessary to protect its rights under the treaty”, if immediate changes were not made.
The department also raised the issue of Chinese tech company Huawei’s involvement in port logistics and the appearance of China’s “strategic assets” in Panama under the previous administration of President Juan Carlos Varela.
Autonomy
President Mulino rejected this characteristic, according to his office, and explained that the PCA was an “autonomous entity that operated the ports independently”.
“I understand that this is a concern for President Donald Trump,” he said, adding that his government would “clarify what needs to be clarified”.
In a separate statement, he said that his government had signed a memorandum of understanding on illegal migration with the US to control the flow of illegal migration through the Central American country.
“This isn’t a pact solely against illegal migration, but also to help prevent people with criminal records from moving on and creating problems, not just in Panama, but also other countries,” Rubio said of the agreement.
