Panama will not negotiate control of its strategic canal during Marco Rubio’s upcoming visit, Jose Raul Mulino says.

Trump's new top maritime official Louis Sola tells CNBC 'all options on the table' to punish Panama and defend U.S. business, trade and national security.

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino on Thursday ruled out discussing control over the Panama Canal in a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is set to visit the Central American country in his first official trip abroad this weekend.

Panama has owned and administered the Panama Canal for nearly three decades. President Trump wants to change that to counter growing Chinese influence in Latin America.

A Senate panel on Jan. 28 took aim at China’s involvement with operations at the Panama Canal and examined President Donald Trump’s economic strategy linked to travel by U.S. ships through the facility.

President Donald Trump's suggestion of the U.S. taking control of the Panama Canal has a legal basis partly due to potential treaty violations involving Chinese activities in Panama.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held a hearing Tuesday morning focused on the Panama Canal’s impact on U.S. trade and national security. Witnesses include

President Trump's priorities of immigration enforcement and promoting U.S. interests in the Panama Canal lead the political agenda in Washington.

Trump is right to lament the lives lost for the creation of the canal. They were mostly Black Caribbean migrant workers, living and dying under Jim Crow conditions that the U.S. imposed in Panama.

A key focus of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Central America this week — his first trip as America’s top diplomat — will be to counter China’s growing influence in the region, the State Department’s top spokesperson said this week,