Marco Rubio will travel to Panama on his first trip abroad as secretary of State. The visit comes as Donald Trump looks to reclaim Panama's canal.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio will make his first official trip abroad next week to Central America, including a stop in Panama, which President Donald Trump has riled with talk of trying to reclaim the Panama Canal.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit to Central America comes after President Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to take the Panama Canal back.

The neutrality of the nearly 50-mile canal, through which nearly 15,000 ships transit each year, is enshrined in Panama’s Constitution and is enforced by the autonomous Panama Canal Authority.

President Donald Trump’s insistence that he wants to have the Panama Canal back under U.S. control is feeding nationalist sentiment and worry in Panama, home to the critical trade route and a country familiar with U.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Panama during his first overseas trip in the post, a source told Reuters on Thursday, as President Donald Trump makes a push for the United States to take back the Panama Canal that has angered the Central American country.

Panama has begun an audit of a Hong Kong company that operates ports at either end of its canal, aiming to dispel Washington’s fears of growing Chinese influence over a strategic waterway that

Republicans hoping to thwart Beijing’s influence in Latin America are urging the Panamanian government to cut ties with Chinese entities.

China's expanding footprint in Latin America is expected to be high on the agenda when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visits Panama next week on his first overseas trip since taking office, according to observers.

Panama President José Raúl Mulino has directly addressed President Donald Trump 's controversial comments regarding the Panama Canal, reaffirming that the waterway unequivocally belongs to Panama.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Newly sworn-in President Donald Trump vowed on Monday that the United States would take back the Panama Canal as he delivered an inauguration speech in which he invoked the 19th century expansionist doctrine of "Manifest Destiny" in laying out plans for space exploration.

Trump's claim that Chinese soldiers exercise authority over the Panama Canal is inaccurate, but his assertion that China manipulates the use of the passage is a long-held U.S. concern.