Panama’s president Jose Raul Mulino on Thursday ruled out negotiations with the United States over ownership of the Panama Canal as he prepares to host Donald Trump’s secretary of state Marco Rubio.

The U.S. and Panama are apprehensive about China's presence around the Panama Canal, citing national security concerns. The issue will be a focus during U.S. top diplomat Marco Rubio's visit, where he will meet Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino and discuss regional migration issues.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit the Panama Canal amid President Trump's control threat. Rubio begins his first foreign tour, visiting Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic,

A key focus of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Central America this week — his first trip as America’s top diplomat — will be to counter China’s growing influence in the region, the State Department’s top spokesperson said this week,

Panama President José Raúl Mulino has a message for Secretary of State Marco Rubio ahead of his impending diplomatic visit: The Panama Canal is not up for discussion. “It’s impossible,” Munilo said in Spanish at a press conference in Panama City on Thursday.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, discussed a scenario in which China could disrupt U.S. trade by blocking off the canal.

Rubio will visit the canal and meet Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, the first talks between the countries since U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to take control of the canal

Rubio departs on Saturday on his first foreign trip, and will visit the canal and meet Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, the first talks between the countries since President Donald Trump’s threat to take control of the canal.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is traveling to Central America and the Caribbean. That is welcome news for smaller countries that typically struggle to get the attention of Washington. Usually, new secretaries of state reserve their first overseas visits for major US allies in Europe or Asia.

Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino rejected negotiations over ownership of the Panama Canal, in the face of President Trump’s fixation on the U.S. retaking the trade waterway. Mulino’s

Traditionally, when US secretaries of state make their international debuts, they travel to major US allies and offer bromides about working together. Marco Rubio's first trip will be different. He will travel to five small Latin American nations to aggressively push President Donald Trump's doctrine of US self-interest,