WASHINGTON — U.S. government ships will no longer pay to transit through the Panama Canal, the US Department of State said on Wednesday, following fierce criticism from Washington over the administration of the waterway.
"The government of Panama has agreed to no longer charge fees for U.S. government vessels to transit the Panama Canal," the Department of State said in a post on social media platform X. "This saves the U.S. government millions of dollars a year."
There was initially no comment from the Panamanian side.
In his inauguration speech on January 20, US President Donald Trump laid claim to the Panama Canal. He has since bluntly stated on several occasions that the United States should have checks on the important waterway, claims that his Panamanian counterpart, José Raúl Mulino, has firmly rejected.
Trump also claims that China is operating the important waterway in Central America. Both Panama and China have rejected the allegations.
However, Panama has been under considerable pressure to make concessions. Trump did not rule out military action.
The 82-kilometre canal connects the Atlantic with the Pacific in Central America. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century by the engineering corps of the US Army.
On December 31, 1999, the U.S. handed over the canal administration to Panama. The transaction was negotiated by the recently deceased Democratic US president Jimmy Carter.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also criticized China's influence on the waterway as he travelled to Panama over the weekend to underscore Trump's call for checks.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) on Wednesday said that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Panama's Minister of Public Security, Frank Alexis Ábrego, over the phone "that his top priority is to safeguard U.S. national security interests ... to include ensuring unfettered access to the Panama Canal and keeping it free from foreign interference."
Ábrego wrote on X that in the Tuesday call it was agreed that Hegseth would visit Panama in April. He only said of the call that the two "expressed mutual interest in technical cooperation to guarantee security and counter hemispheric, narco-terrorist and irregular migration threats."
The Hong Kong company Hutchison Ports PPC has been operating large container terminals on both sides of the canal for decades. The company is owned not by the Chinese state, but by a wealthy Hong Kong family.
However, there are concerns that the government in Beijing could also use private Chinese companies to expand its influence over ports and shipping routes.
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