Santo Domingo:
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that it was “absurd” for U.S. naval vessels to pay to pass the Panama Canal after the Panama president refused an agreement on free passage.
“I think it's ridiculous that we have to pay to pass through a zone where we have to protect in times of conflict. These are our expectations,” Rubio told reporters in the Dominican Republic.
However, Rubio stopped claiming that an agreement had been reached.
“They are democratically elected governments. They have rules. They have laws. They are going to follow their process, but our expectations remain the same,” he said. Ta.
A State Department social media post on Wednesday said Panama would waive U.S. government vessels from fees a few days after Rubio's visit.
President Jose Raul Murino called the statement “unbearable” rather than true.
President Donald Trump has threatened to seize the Panama Canal, pointing to growing Chinese influence.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published by Syndicate Feed.)
