Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino denied today the US State Department's claim that his country has reached an agreement that allows US warships to transit the Panama Canal for free, the Associated Press reported, BTA reported.
Mulino said that he told US Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett yesterday that Washington can neither set the canal transit fees nor exempt anyone from them and that he was surprised by the State Department's statement claiming the opposite.
"I completely reject this claim", Mulino said at a briefing.
The US State Department said last night on the social network "Ex" that "US government ships can now pass through the Panama Canal without fees, saving the US government millions of dollars a year". The US State Department has not yet commented on Mulino's statement.
A few days ago, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Mulino and the canal administrators and visited the strategic commercial waterway. Rubio conveyed the message to US President Donald Trump that China's influence over the canal is unacceptable.
The canal administrators said they were ready to discuss the possibility of giving priority to US warships when passing through the canal, but did not say they had considered eliminating the fees.