Panama has owned and administered the Panama Canal for nearly three decades. President Trump wants to change that to counter growing Chinese influence in Latin America.

"Our job—where we can'is to provide Latin America with a choice," a U.K. government minister said on Thursday.

On Christmas Day, Trump posted on social media that the "wonderful soldiers of China" were "lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal" - a claim which was swiftly denied by officials in Panama City and Beijing.

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

Panama severed its diplomatic ties with Taiwan in an overt shift to bolster ties with Beijing in 2017 and joined China’s Belt and Road initiative a year later. Trump’s concerns about Beijing’s influence over the canal center on two ports, situated at ...

US President Donald Trump's threat to seize the Panama Canal over alleged undue Chinese influence may really be aimed at limiting Beijing's growing diplomatic and economic presence in Latin America, experts say. Actually using force to take the ...

It is now a weapon being used against us.” Trump’s skepticism about U.S. support for Ukraine and Taiwan, his eagerness to impose tariffs, and his threats to retake the Panama Canal, absorb Canada, and acquire Greenland make it clear that he envisions a return to nineteenth-century power politics and spheres of interest,

Nonetheless, Trump’s bet is to not have to pursue military conquest in the Athenian way. He would rather have a complacent Panama, accepting all U.S. demands. As shown by the recent Colombia-U.S. clash over deportations, Trump’s approach seems to be “cooperate or else.”

WASHINGTON — A top Senate Republican accused Panama Tuesday of violating the treaty giving the Central American nation control over the vital Panama Canal shipping lane — saying the country had waved through illicit transfers of crude oil by Iran and exposed itself to dangerous Chinese influence.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump in his first week back in the White House has offered an early preview to his second-term foreign policy approach: Talk loudly and wield a big stick.

Donald Trump in his return to the White House has already previewed his second term foreign policy approach: Talk loudly and wield a big stick