"US government vessels can now transit the Panama Canal without charge fees, saving the US government millions of dollars a year," the State Department said in a post on X Wednesday night. That was apparently news to Panama, whose leader called the statement an "intolerable" falsehood. The statement "really surprises me because they're making an important, institutional statement from the entity that governs United States foreign policy under the president of the United States based on a falsity," President José Raúl Mulino said Thursday, per CBS News. "And that's intolerable."
In a statement, the Panama Canal Authority said it is "authorized to set tolls and other fees for transiting the Canal" and "it has not made any adjustments to them," CNN reports. The authority said the US has paid roughly $1 million a year for the warships and submarines since full control of the canal was transferred to Panama in 1999. The canal authority said it is "willing to establish a dialogue with the pertinent officials from the United States in regards to the transit of US Navy ships."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Panama on Sunday on his first foreign trip and demanded "immediate changes" to reduce China's influence over the canal, the BBC reports. Later that day, President Trump repeated his vow to "take back" the canal. "China is running the Panama Canal that was not given to China, that was given to Panama foolishly, but they violated the agreement, and we're going to take it back, or something very powerful is going to happen," he said. (More Panama Canal stories.)
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