
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is on his first foreign trip in office.
The nation’s top diplomat arrived in Central America on Saturday to press President Donald Trump’s top priority—curbing illegal immigration—and to convey the message that the U.S. wants to reclaim control over the Panama Canal despite intense resistance from regional leaders.
It’s an unusual destination for the maiden voyage of America’s top diplomat, whose predecessors have generally favored Europe or Asia for their initial outings. It reflects not only the personal interest that Rubio — the first Hispanic to hold the nation’s most senior Cabinet post — has in the region but also the Trump administration’s intent to focus much of its foreign policy energy close to home.
“It’s no accident that my first trip abroad as secretary of state will keep me in the hemisphere,” Rubio wrote in The Wall Street Journal on Friday.
Limiting immigration and fighting narcotics smuggling are significant elements of that effort. Another key priority will be curbing China’s growing influence in the Western Hemisphere, topped by reasserting U.S. control over the Panama Canal. The American-built canal was turned over to the Panamanians in 1999, and they strongly object to Trump’s demand to hand it back.
Mass migration, drugs and hostile policies pursued by Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela have wreaked havoc, Rubio said in the Journal opinion piece. “All the while, the Chinese Communist Party uses diplomatic and economic leverage — such as at the Panama Canal — to oppose the U.S. and turn sovereign nations into vassal states.”
“It’s impossible, I can’t negotiate,” Mulino said Thursday. “The canal belongs to Panama.”
Yet Rubio said he would make Trump’s intent more explicit. In an interview Thursday with SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly, he said Trump’s desire to retake control of the Panama Canal is driven by legitimate national security interests stemming from growing concerns about Chinese activity and influence in Latin America.
“We’re going to address that topic,” he said. “The President’s been pretty clear he wants to administer the canal again. Obviously, the Panamanians are not big fans of that idea. That message has been brought very clear.”
He said Chinese investments in ports and other infrastructure and facilities at the Pacific and Caribbean ends of the canal are a major concern, leaving Panama and the critical shipping route vulnerable to China.
Rubio added that “if China wanted to obstruct traffic in the Panama Canal, they could,” which would violate the 1977 treaty signed by former President Jimmy Carter, under which the U.S. later ceded control.
Despite Mulino’s rejection of any negotiation over ownership, some believe Panama may be open to a compromise under which canal operations on both sides are taken away from the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports company. The company was given a 25-year no-bid extension to run them. An audit into the suitability of that extension is already underway, and it could lead to a rebidding process.
What is unclear is whether Trump would accept the transfer of the concession to an American or European firm as meeting his demands, which appear to cover more than just operations.
“In some ways, Trump is pushing on an open door,” said Ryan Berg, director of the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. “But it will depend on how his red lines are defined.”
“There’s been a lot of heavy rhetoric, and it will be up to Rubio to clarify it,” Berg said, adding that some kind of compromise was possible, “but we’ll have to see if he’s really serious about taking it back. If that’s the case, then nothing short of that will satisfy him.”
Rubio arrived in Panama on Saturday and met with Mulino and the canal administrator the following day. He will then travel to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic.
His arrival comes just a day after the U.S. resumed visa processing at its embassy in Bogota, Colombia. The embassy had been shut down Sunday after the Colombian government refused to accept two planeloads of Colombian deportees from the United States.
Previous secretaries of state have often traveled abroad with so-called “deliverables”—assistance packages, new cooperation initiatives, and the like — that they can announce at each stop. However, as with Colombia, Rubio may only be able to bring limited relief from a U.S. freeze on foreign assistance that Trump ordered pending a review of all programs.
Such programs have generally focused on policing, counternarcotics operations, and efforts to stem illegal migration in Latin America. Rubio has made provisions for specific programs offering lifesaving assistance to be exempt from the funding pause, and waiver applications for programs in several countries he will visit are under review.
Among the countries for which waivers for certain programs have been submitted are Panama, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and its neighbor, Haiti. Although Rubio will not be traveling to Haiti, the State Department has already allowed some $41 million in support of an international peacekeeping force there to go ahead.
___
Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
6 comments
EARL PITTS "International Expert" AMERICAN
February 2, 2025 at 10:36 am
Good Morn ‘Ting Sage Patriots along with all my “Millions upon Millions: of Registared Democrats who SAW THE LIGHT and voted for Donald Trump. We would not be here today without your votes ….. we would be suffering greatly under the confused mind of President Kamalla Harris and Our Great Nation would most likely be in day three of “WORLD WAR III.
AND THAT, MY DEAR REGISTARED DEMOCRATS ….. is why you are given the “GREAT HONOR” of being Bestowed With The SAGE HONOR of Forever being “EARL’S BESTY LEFTYS”.
Moveing on to THE USA CANAL [ FKA THE PANAMA CANAL], America this Re-Patrioting of OUR CANAL is a Slap In Those “Sneaky Round Moon-Faces” [AKA The Chinky Chinky Chinese] & One Of The Bestest Things PRESIDENT TRUMP ever did.
IN CLOSING:
MAGA,
EARL PITTS “International Expert” AMERICAN
Victoria Olson
February 2, 2025 at 11:04 pm
You are a sadly misinformed person who talks out your ass with no facts only propaganda
PeterH
February 3, 2025 at 12:14 am
This wingnut champions the golden age of the Monroe Doctrine! Figures! Trump loves his uneducated!
Skeptic
February 2, 2025 at 11:51 am
Another sad joke. Instead of meeting with leaders of countries that have resources and industrial bases and are being courted by the Chinese (e.g., Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia), Liddle Marco is meeting with tiny Caribbean countries that his boss thinks he can bully. Journalists should call this what it is — a trade junket to the Caribbean; maybe he can convince these leaders to name the Sea after Trump, rather than a long-defunct Indian tribe. Meanwhile, Trump is sending special envoys not under Rubio’s control to important countries throughout the world, including Venezuela (which is actually a Latin American country).
PeterH
February 2, 2025 at 1:14 pm
Latin America looks to the USA as a market for their produce! Nothing more.
Montgomery Lish
February 3, 2025 at 12:36 am
Wow.
It’s obviously not necessary to write or spell correctly in these comments.
I believe that our current Trump administration is Krapent misguided on how to prevent drug use in the USA.
Comments are closed.