The Panama Canal Authority denies claims about free ship tickets

Panama has denied having made changes to allow the United States government ships to transit the Panama Canal for free, after the statements of the White House that had agreed such movement.

The State Department said in a statement on X that its government ships “can now travel the Panama channel without charges, saving the United States government millions of dollars a year.”

Responding to the comments, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) said it was “empowered to establish tolls and other rates to travel the channel,” and added that “he had not made any adjustment to them.”

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has repeatedly expressed his desire to resume river control, which is key to global trade.

The 51 mile Panama Canal (82 km) crosses the Central American nation and is the main link between Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has been in a visit to Latin American countries this week, demanded that Panama make “immediate changes” to what he calls China’s “influence and control over the channel.

The main diplomat of the United States said that Panama had to act or the United States would take the necessary measures to protect their rights under a treaty between the two countries.

During a visit to the country, Rubio met the president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, as well as the channel administrator, Ricaurte Vásquez Morales.

The ACP said after his visit that he had transmitted his intention to work with the US Navy. To optimize the priority of traffic for his boats through the channel.

This commitment to dialogue with Washington remained, he said in a separate statement on Wednesday.

American ships constitute a significant proportion of traffic on the channel. In 2024, 52% of transits through the river route had ports of origin or destination in the United States, according to the channel authorities.

Up to 14,000 ships use the channel every year to avoid a long and expensive trip around the Punta de América del Sur.

In his inaugural speech, President Trump said he planned to “withdraw” the channel, claiming that China was operating and that Panama had “broken” a promise to remain neutral.

The plan was strongly rejected by Mulino, who said that the key commercial route “is and will remain” in the hands of the country.

He also rejected Trump’s accusations on China’s influence, saying that “there is no presence of any nation in the world that interferes with our administration.”

The United States built the channel at the beginning of the 20th century, but, after years of protest, President Jimmy Carter signed a treaty with Panama in 1977 to gradually retreat the control of the river route, which Trump has described “a big mistake.”