The aggressive rhetoric of US President Donald Trump has shocked Panamanians, who see the waterway as a source of enormous national pride. View on euronews

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.

The top US diplomat said President Donald Trump’s proposal to buy Greenland “is not a joke” because of the risk that China would station resources on the island that threaten American security and the importance of Arctic shipping lanes for energy exports.

"Our job—where we can'is to provide Latin America with a choice," a U.K. government minister said on Thursday.

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.

Republicans hoping to thwart Beijing’s influence in Latin America are urging the Panamanian government to cut ties with Chinese entities.

Donald Trump stokes fears about Beijing’s influence in Panama, but thousands of Chinese gave their lives to build canal and railway.

China's presence around the Panama Canal is a national security concern that Panama's government has to deal with, U.S. Special Envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone said on Friday, ahead of U.

When Marco Rubio arrives in Latin America this weekend on his first foreign trip as Donald Trump's secretary of state, he'll find a region reeling from the new administration's shock-and-awe approach to diplomacy.

It is now a weapon being used against us.” Trump’s skepticism about U.S. support for Ukraine and Taiwan, his eagerness to impose tariffs, and his threats to retake the Panama Canal, absorb Canada, and acquire Greenland make it clear that he envisions a return to nineteenth-century power politics and spheres of interest,

Nonetheless, Trump’s bet is to not have to pursue military conquest in the Athenian way. He would rather have a complacent Panama, accepting all U.S. demands. As shown by the recent Colombia-U.S. clash over deportations, Trump’s approach seems to be “cooperate or else.”