On his first trip overseas as the top US diplomat, Rubio took a guided tour of the canal accompanied by its Panamanian administrator as a South Korean-affiliated oil tanker and Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship passed through the vital link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
He pointed to the “influence and control” of China over the canal, through which some 40 percent of US container traffic passes.
She did not spell out the consequences. But Trump has repeatedly refused to rule out military force. On Saturday, he imposed punishing tariffs on the top US trading partners -- Canada, China and Mexico.
Rubio and Trump say China has gained so much power through surrounding infrastructure that it could shut the canal down in a potential conflict and spell catastrophe for the United States.
Mulino painted a rosier portrait of the meeting. He welcomed Rubio at his official residence in the tropical capital’s old quarter, with an honor guard outside the whitewashed walls.
“Sovereignty over the canal is not in question,“ Mulino said.
Mulino previously ordered an audit of a Hong Kong-based company that controls ports on both sides of the canal but Trump said the step was not enough.
Mulino offered Rubio the use of an airstrip in the town of Meteti in Darien, the dense, prohibitive jungle that has nonetheless become a major crossing point for migrants seeking to exit South America en route to the United States.
Former president Joe Biden already sealed a deal after Mulino’s election last year to provide $6 million to assist in expelling migrants.
Rubio is expected to focus on migration on the four other stops of his trip -- El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.
Small but intense protests broke out in Panama ahead of Rubio’s visit, with protesters burning him in effigy and police firing tear gas.
“To the imperial messenger,“ union leader Saul Mendez said of Rubio, “we reiterate that there is absolutely nothing here for Trump. Panama is a free and sovereign nation.”
Jimmy Carter negotiated the agreement that gave the canal to Panama, with the late president seeing a moral imperative for a superpower to respect a smaller country.
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