Rubio says Panama addressing US concerns on canal after Trump threats

by Shaun TANDON

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday voiced optimism that Panama would address concerns over Chinese influence in the Panama Canal, bringing down the temperature after President Donald Trump's threats to seize the vital waterway.

A day after he demanded through a statement that Panama take immediate steps, Rubio took a more diplomatic approach Monday, acknowledging the issue was "delicate" for Panama and praising its efforts.

"It was a worthwhile visit and very respectful. It is one that I think is going to achieve potentially good things that assuage concerns we have," Rubio told reporters after arriving in El Salvador from Panama.

"Time will tell -- we'll see -- but I feel good about it," he said.

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Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, said that Panama had "agreed to certain things" and that the two countries would hold telephone talks on Friday, although he said he remained "not happy."

Rubio praised Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino's decision to exit the Belt and Road Initiative, China's signature infrastructure-building program.

Mulino, speaking to reporters Sunday, said that Panama would not renew its membership and would look into whether it can leave earlier than planned.

Rubio called it a "good" step, noting that Panama -- which recognized Beijing over Taiwan during Trump's first term -- is the first country in Latin America to ditch the program.

Rubio said to expect more announcements in the coming days.

He suggested a potential agreement on US concerns over Panama charging US military vessels that go through the canal, even though Washington is obliged to defend the waterway, which links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Trump in his inaugural address said the United States would be "taking back" the canal -- built more than a century ago by Washington with Afro-Caribbean labor and handed back to Panama at the end of 1999.

Rubio also praised Panama as a "great partner" on Trump's top priority of stopping migration.

Before leaving Panama, Rubio observed a flight back of Colombians detained as they crossed the Darien Gap, a dense jungle that many migrants pass through towards the United States, through a deportation program negotiated under former president Joe Biden.

- Migration cooperation -

Rubio found another close partner in El Salvador, whose iron-fisted president, Nayib Bukele, has won hero status with some in Trump's orbit.

Bukele has launched a sweeping crackdown on crime that includes mass warrantless detentions, triggering criticism from human rights groups but wide support by a population appreciative of a sharp drop in crime in what was once one of the world's most violent countries.

Bukele, sporting sunglasses and sneakers and with his top button undone, showed Rubio through his lakeside retreat in the thick forest.

As fans on a boat below cheered, Bukele waved down and told Rubio with a grin -- switching to English for a moment -- "Ninety percent approval rating!"

Bukele told reporters that he was nearing an agreement with the United States on migration that would go beyond a 2019 accord in which El Salvador accepted migrants from third countries.

"I think it's much bigger and of greater scope than the agreement we did in 2019," he said.

Mauricio Claver-Carone, the US special envoy on Latin America, earlier said the Trump administration wanted El Salvador to take migrants from Venezuela.

Since taking office last month, Trump has stripped roughly 600,000 Venezuelans of protection from deportation ordered by Biden, citing the economic and security crisis in the South American country run by US nemesis Nicolas Maduro.

- Ideological ally -

The Trump administration, finding an ally in Bukele, has so far not touched the protected status from deportation for some 232,000 Salvadorans in the United States, which was also extended by Biden.

On the eve of Rubio's visit, Bukele unabashedly associated himself with Trump by backing his effort to dismantle US foreign assistance.

Posting on X in English, Bukele repeated talking points of Trump's billionaire friend Elon Musk and right-wing populists by alleging that US assistance mostly goes to fund opposition groups, including non-governmental organizations.

El Salvador received some $138 million in US assistance during the 2023 fiscal year, led by support for the government and civil society and for basic education, according to official US data.

Guests at Bukele's second inauguration last year included the president's son Donald Trump Jr. and Tucker Carlson, the right-wing journalist close to Trump.