Is US Secretary of State headed to Panama to give Donald Trump's Canal threat a shape? New reports suggests...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is likely to visit Panama late January. The visit is expected after US President Donald Trump said he would take back the Panama Canal.

Three US officials told Politico Rubio is set to visit Panama as early as next week. The trip, which is reportedly scheduled to run from late January to early February, also includes Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, the officials were quoted as saying.

All the officials, however, stressed that the travel plans are tentative. The trip is expected to be Rubio’s first foreign travel as secretary of State.

Why Rubio may visit Panama?

Politico reported that Rubio is expected to cover at least two issues at the top of Trump's MAGA foreign policy agenda during the travel. These include "curtailing illegal migration and Trump’s push to reclaim the Panama Canal," according to one of the current officials and the former official.

This comes as Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested the US may use military force to take back the Panama Canal.

Trump's threat and how Panama has reacted?

In his inauguration speech on Monday, January 26, US President Donald Trump repeated his aspiration that the United States would take back the Panama canal, which is a key route for world shipping.

Trump gave no further details on when or how he intended to reclaim the canal — which is the sovereign territory of an ally, He, however, refused to rule out possible use of military force, drawing criticism from Washington's Latin American friends and foes alike.

He also repeated accusations against Panama of breaking promises it made for the final transfer of the strategic waterway in 1999 and of ceding its operation to China.

The Panamanian government has vehemently denied these allegations.

Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino said on X on Monday that Panama has administered the canal responsibly for world trade, including for the United States, and that it "is and will continue to be Panamanian".

Mulino responded "be serious, be serious" on Wednesday when asked in Davos whether he was concerned the US would invade after President Donald Trump said he would take back the Panama Canal.

"The Panama Canal was not a concession or a gift from the United States," he said in the World Economic Forum (WEF) session, adding that it came into being through a series of treaties dating back to 1903.

The United States largely built the canal and administered territory surrounding the passage for decades. But the US and Panama signed a pair of accords in 1977 that paved the way for the canal's return to full Panamanian control. The United States handed it over in 1999 after a period of joint administration.

(With inputs from Reuters)