Rubio's stop in Panama also comes as Trump in recent weeks has said he wants the Panama Canal back under U.S. control, claiming that “American ships are being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way,

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.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will likely travel to Central America in the first week of February, a source familiar with the planning said.

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.

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.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Panama on his first trip abroad as the top U.S. diplomat after President

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to visit Panama — the country whose canal President Donald Trump has suggested he’d seize — as early as next week, according to three U.S. officials briefed on the plan.

Marco Rubio will head overseas late next week; he's also scheduled to visit Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.

When Marco Rubio arrives in Latin America this weekend on his first foreign trip as Donald Trump's secretary of state, he'll find a region reeling from the new administration's shock-and-awe approach to diplomacy.

The new Secretary of State already has said the Hong Kong-based operator of Panama Canal-adjacent ports could be a “big national security and defense problem.”

Trump claims that China is effectively 'operating' the vital waterway and has threatened to 'take it back' 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.