CNN World Panama denies State Department claim US government vessels can now transit canal for free Patrick Oppmann By Lucas Lilieholm, Patrick Oppmann and Valeria Ordonez, CNN - Published 1:09 AM EST, Thu February 6, 2025

 CNN  World 

Panama denies State Department claim US government vessels can now transit canal for free

Patrick Oppmann

By Lucas Lilieholm, Patrick Oppmann and Valeria Ordonez, CNN

 3 minute read 

Published 1:09 AM EST, Thu February 6, 2025

A ship passing through locks on the Panama canal.

A ship passing through locks on the Panama canal. Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images

CNN

 — 

Panama denied a claim made by the State Department on Wednesday that the Central American nation had agreed to no longer charge fees for US government ships to transit the country’s famous canal.

“In response to a publication released by the United States Department of State, the Panama Canal Authority, which is authorized to set tolls and other fees for transiting the Canal, reports that it has not made any adjustments to them,” the authority said in a statement, adding that it stood ready to establish a dialogue with the US.

Panama’s statement directly contradicted the State Department’s claim earlier in the evening.

“US government vessels can now transit the Panama Canal without charge fees, saving the US government millions of dollars a year,” the State Department said in a statement posted on X alongside an image of a naval vessel entering the canal’s locks.

Over the past 26 years the US has paid a total of $25.4 million dollars for the transit of warships and submarines, equivalent to less than one million dollars per year, according to a statement from Panama’s embassy in Cuba.

CNN has contacted the State Department for comment.

The latest controversy came just days after President Donald Trump reiterated his vow to “take back” the Panama Canal, warning of “powerful” US action in an escalating diplomatic dispute with the Central American country over China’s presence around the vital waterway.

“China is running the Panama Canal that was not given to China, that was given to Panama foolishly, but they violated the agreement, and we’re going to take it back, or something very powerful is going to happen,” Trump told reporters on Sunday.

Hours earlier, the diplomatic stir caused by Trump’s repeated and publicly stated desire for the US to retake control of the canal had appeared to ease after Secretary of State Marco Rubio, making his first overseas trip as the top US diplomat, met with Panama’s President Raúl Mulino.

Though Mulino told Rubio that Panama’s sovereignty over the canal was not up for debate, he also said he had addressed Washington’s concerns over Beijing’s purported influence.

Aerial view of Panama canal in the area of Pedro Miguel locks, in Panama City on December 13, 2022. - Every time a ship crosses the Miraflores Lock, the Panama Canal's most famous gate, 200 million liters of fresh water are discharged into the sea. This operation was repeated more than 14,000 times during 2022 in this strategic passageway linking the world's two largest oceans, whose main source of energy to move ships is rainwater. (Photo by Luis ACOSTA / AFP) (Photo by LUIS ACOSTA/AFP via Getty Images)

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