Some U.S. lawmakers and officials are touting a nearly half-century-old treaty between the United States and Panama to justify the Trump administration's threat to reclaim the Panama Canal - provided it can show the strategic waterway's operation is under threat.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio embarks soon on his inaugural trip as the United States’ top diplomat. His first stop, Panama could prove to be the most contentious on the itinerary.

Panama Ports is a subsidiary of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison Holdings. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing to "take back" the Panama Canal, the world's second busiest interoceanic waterway.

Panama has complained to the United Nations over US President Donald Trump's "worrying" threat to seize the Panama Canal, even as it launched an audit of the Hong Kong-linked operator of two ports on the interoceanic waterway.

China has fired back at President Donald Trump, dismissing his claim that Beijing has seized control of the Panama Canal as baseless and provocative. Newsweek reached out by email to a Trump representative and to Hutchison Ports, a Hong Kong–based port operator that controls ports near the canal, for comment.

Panama has reportedly submitted a formal letter to the U.N. rejecting Trump's statement about reclaiming the canal. The country's President José Raúl Mulino said in the letter, dated January 20, that the canal "is and will continue to be Panama's," the New York Times reported.

PANAMA : Panamanian authorities began an audit of the China-linked company that controls two ports adjacent to the Panama Canal, as President Donald Trump repeats threats to take over the waterway.

The Panamanian comptroller's office that oversees public entities announced “an exhaustive audit" at the Panama Ports Company.

PANAMA CITY — President Donald Trump’s ... operating in the ports on either end of the canal were part of a Hong Kong consortium that won a bidding process in 1997. He added that U.S. and ...

In nomination hearing, Rubio also slams Beijing’s ‘violation’ of Hong Kong’s autonomy and asserts ‘national defence’ component of Taiwan Relations Act

PANAMA CITY — Panama has complained to the United Nations over United States President Donald Trump's "worrying" threat to seize the Panama Canal, even as it launched an audit of the Hong Kong-linked operator of two ports on the interoceanic waterway.