WASHINGTON: The US Division of State stated on Wednesday (Feb 5) that American authorities vessels can now transit the Panama Canal with out cost charges.
“The federal government of Panama has agreed to now not cost charges for US authorities vessels to transit the Panama Canal,” the division stated in a publish on X.
It stated the settlement will save the US authorities thousands and thousands of {dollars} every years.
The Panama Canal Authority didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino on Sunday throughout a visit to Central America.
Panama has grow to be a focus of the Trump administration as President Donald Trump has accused the Central American nation of charging extreme charges to make use of its passage.
“If the rules, each ethical and authorized, of this magnanimous gesture of giving should not adopted, then we are going to demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and with out query,” Trump stated final month.
Mulino has dismissed Trump’s risk that the US retake control of the canal, which it largely constructed. The US administered territory surrounding the passage for many years.
However the US and Panama signed a pair of accords in 1977 that paved the way in which for the canal’s return to full Panamanian management. The USA handed it over in 1999 after a interval of joint administration.
