Rubio urges Panama to curtail Chinese influence

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday told the president of Panama that the United States would take decisive action to protect the Panama Canal from China. Rubio called for Panama President José Raúl Mulino to eliminate China’s influence over the Canal. U.S. President Donald Trumphas asserted that Beijing’s current level of control over the canal violated the international treaty requiring the Panama Canal to remain neutral. China’s influence also threatened the canal’s operations, Rubio said.

What sort of actions would the U.S. take to protect the canal from China? At a news conference a month ago, Trump hesitated to rule out military or economic coercion to take control of the Panama Canal. He said China was operating the canal instead of Panama. President Mulino, meanwhile, has insisted that he will not negotiate about ownership of the canal. The United States initially owned the canal when it opened for business in 1914. It turned over custody of the canal to the Panamanian government in 2000.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift about how Trump took heat from former President Joe Biden’s Secretary of State over remarks he made about annexing Greenland.