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State Department Secretary Marco Rubio is off to a running start with diplomatic relations for the United States.
His first trip included a stop in Panama to “address critical regional and global challenges” in the region, including China’s encroachment on operations in the Panama Canal.
Secretary Rubio detailed his intentions in a post on X upon arrival to Panama.
“Arrived in Panama this evening on my first trip as Secretary of State. We’re working days, nights, weekends — whatever it takes to strengthen our national security, protect our borders, and enhance economic prosperity for Americans,” he wrote.
In recent weeks, President Trump detailed the importance of protecting the Panama Canal from China’s grasp. He floated the repurchase of the waterway and criticized Panama for allowing the communist country to seemingly control operations.
On Sunday after meeting with Secretary Rubio, Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino said that his nation would maintain sovereignty over the 51-mile waterway but announced that he was terminating a key development agreement with China.
In 2017, the country signed a memorandum of understanding to join China’s Belt and Road global development initiative. Mulino said the memorandum, which comes up for renewal every three years, “would not be renewed” by his country, and that he would look into the possibility of ending the agreement sooner than its expiration.
In a readout from his meeting with Mulino and Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce summarized the meeting.
“Secretary Rubio informed President Mulino and Minister Martínez-Acha that President Trump has made a preliminary determination that the current position of influence and control of the Chinese Communist Party over the Panama Canal area is a threat to the canal and represents a violation of the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal,” she wrote.
The readout continued, “Secretary Rubio made clear that this status quo is unacceptable and that absent immediate changes, it would require the United States to take measures necessary to protect its rights under the Treaty.”
The Secretary also discussed Panama’s participation in ending illegal migration in the West. He thanked Mulino for supporting the repatriation program, which has helped reduce illegal migration through the Darien Gap.
Secretary Rubio will travel to other locations in Central America and the Caribbean during his first trip abroad.