During a visit to Panama, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that Panama must reduce what President Trump perceives as “Chinese influence” over the Panama Canal or face the possibility of the United States “retaking” the canal. Rubio visited the country and toured the Canal Zone during his first official trip as a top U.S. diplomat at the beginning of February. The visit comes following Trump’s repeated demands that the United States retake control of the Panama Canal, which would violate Panama’s sovereignty. These demands, alongside Trump’s comments about making Canada the 51st state and purchasing Greenland, are reflective of the Trump administration’s combative foreign policy approach and imperial ambitions, with friendly countries serving as some of their primary targets.  

The Panama Canal, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, is essential in facilitating hundreds of billions of dollars of trade each year. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, about 5 to 6 percent of global trade passes through the critical waterway each year, and the U.S. is the canal’s biggest user. The canal was owned and operated by the United States until former President Carter negotiated the Torrijos-Carter Treaties in 1977 amidst calls for sovereignty, which established joint U.S.-Panama control over the Canal Zone until 1999. The canal is now under the control of the Panama Canal Authority, an autonomous government agency of Panama. In a news conference in December 2024, Trump referred to the treaty as a “terrible thing to do.” Trump has also claimed that China secretly runs the canal and that Panama has been charging the U.S. “exorbitant rates” for use of the canal. Following these claims, Panama’s president José Raúl Mulino released a statement, saying “As President, I want to express precisely that every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent area belong to PANAMA, and will continue to be, […] The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable,” he added. Ricaurte Vásquez Morales, the administrator of the Panama Canal Authority, told the Wall Street Journal in December that claims of Chinese influence over the canal were “unfounded”, and that the U.S. was not being charged at higher rates, saying “We cannot discriminate for the Chinese, or the Americans, or anyone else. This will violate the neutrality treaty, international law and it will lead to chaos.”

Under the treaty, the United States can act if there is a military threat to the canal’s neutrality; however, it cannot simply unilaterally retake ownership of the Canal Zone. In an interview before his trip to Panama, Rubio said, “The president’s been pretty clear he wants to administer the canal again. Obviously, the Panamanians are not big fans of that idea. That message has been brought very clear.” During the meeting, around 200 protesters marched in the capital, shouting “Marco Rubio out of Panama,” “Long live national sovereignty” and “One territory, one flag,” with some burning a banner with images of Trump and Rubio after being stopped by riot police at the presidential palace. In the meeting, Rubio told Mulino that Trump believed Chinese presence in the Canal Zone may be a violation of neutrality in the treaty. The State Department said in a summary of the meeting, “Secretary Rubio made clear that this status quo is unacceptable and that absent immediate changes, it would require the United States to take measures necessary to protect its rights under the treaty.” After the meeting, Mulino told reporters that Rubio had made “no real threat of retaking the canal or the use of force.” Mulino did promise to pull out of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a major source of foreign direct investment and energy and infrastructure lending in Panama and other Latin American countries, which Panama joined in 2017, dropping diplomatic recognition of Taiwan. Mulino also ordered an audit of Panama Ports Company, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings, which has managed two major ports since 1997: Balboa on the Pacific coast and Cristóbal on the Atlantic coast. Council on Foreign Relations fellow for Latin America studies Will Freeman said, “Trump seems to be making an example out of Panama with the goal of getting other regional leaders to think twice before they take any bold steps to deepen ties with Beijing”.

Trump’s aggressive, imperialistic rhetoric regarding U.S. nation-building abroad and repeated demands of the annexation or purchase of the sovereign territory of other countries demonstrates a concerning direction of the new U.S. foreign policy. The United States using threats to violate sovereign authority in order to pursue its interests abroad is a threat to global peace and stability. Rather, international law must be followed vigilantly, and peaceful and collaborative diplomatic relations and foreign policy must be prioritized. The administration’s combative rhetoric and efforts in its relations with friendly countries are reflective of the idea that the United States has the authority to intervene and exert its interests globally, even whilst violating international law, and is antithetical to peaceful diplomacy.