Newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is embarking on a tour of Central America to counter China’s influence.
The diplomatic tour will take Rubio to meet with Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo, and Dominican President Luis Abinader. The trip aims to strengthen regional cooperation on other issues, such as illegal migration and transnational crime.
The issue over the Panama Canal centers on U.S. concerns that Chinese-linked companies control key access points to the canal, which the U.S. built and later gifted to Panama.
“Secretary Rubio’s engagements with senior officials and business leaders will promote regional cooperation on our core, shared interests: Stopping illegal and large-scale migration, fighting the scourge of transnational criminal organizations and drug traffickers, countering China, and deepening economic partnerships to enhance prosperity in our hemisphere,” said State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce in a statement.
Rubio defended his first trip as U.S. Secretary to Panama and cited concerns over Chinese influence at the Panama Canal. In an interview, Rubio said, “Hong Kong-based companies having control over the entry and exit points of the canal is completely unacceptable.”
The Secretary of State told SirusXM host Megyn Kelly that the situation needs to end “because if there is a conflict, and China tells them, do everything you can to obstruct the canal so that the U.S. can’t engage in trade and commerce so that the U.S. military and naval fleet cannot get to the Indo-Pacific fast enough, they would have to do it.”
President Mulino has previously said it is impossible to negotiate over the canal. However, the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a news conference that Trump thinks it’s unacceptable that the Chinese Communist Party essentially runs the canal.
Trump previously criticized the transfer of the Panama Canal to Panama, calling it a costly mistake, and claimed that the treaty governing its use had been violated, arguing that American ships, including those of the U.S. Navy, are being unfairly treated while China has control and said “China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mont., voiced his concerns over China’s increasing control of critical global infrastructure, warning that the U.S. is failing to respond adequately.
