U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned President José Raúl Mulino of Panama on Sunday that the current status of the Panama Canal -- which Twitler wants to regain control of -- was “unacceptable.” Rubio met with Mulino on Sunday in Panama City during his first international trip as the United States’ top diplomat. the trip, which began on Saturday, is set to conclude Thursday. He is also scheduled to visit El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. According to a readout of the meeting from the U.S. State Department, Rubio told Mulino and Foreign Minister Javier Martínez that Twitler has made a “preliminary determination” that China’s influence over the Panama Canal, which the United States built in the early 1900s, violated treaties that transferred control of the important trade route from Washington to Panama City. Rubio, according to the State Department, told Mulino that canal’s “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,” he said, referring to the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal. |
