Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino on Thursday denied the U.S. State Department’s claim that his country had reached a deal allowing U.S. warships to transit the Panama Canal for free. Mulino said he had told U.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has walked back the assertion of the State Department that Panama “has agreed to no longer charge fees” to US government vessels transiting the Panama Canal after outcry from the Panamanian government.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio embarks this weekend on his first foreign trip in office, heading to Central America to press President Donald Trump's top priority — curbing illegal immigration — and bring the message that the U.