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.

Panama and China have pushed back against United States President Donald Trump’s controversial claims regarding the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal “was not a gift” from the US, Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino said on Wednesday in response to Trump’s threat to seize control of the strategic waterway.

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.