Rubio to take up Panama Canal, immigration crackdown on Latin America debut trip

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio greets employees upon arrival at the State Department on January 21, 2025.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be pushing Donald Trump's hardline immigration agenda and addressing the US president's claim to "take back" the Panama Canal when he tours Latin American countries from Saturday on his first foreign trip as America's top diplomat.

Traditionally, when US secretaries of state make their international debuts, they travel to major US allies and offer bromides about working together.

Marco Rubio's first trip will be different. He will travel to five small Latin American nations to aggressively push President Donald Trump's doctrine of US self-interest, starting with the Panama Canal.

Rubio will start his trip Saturday in Panama, after Trump charged that China has unfair influence over the canal and vowed that the United States would be "taking it back."

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Days before Rubio's trip, Trump showed the punishment he can dole out for resistance.

When Colombia's leftist president, Gustavo Petro, refused US military aircraft of detained citizens and pleaded for more humane treatment, Trump threatened massive tariffs on the longstanding US ally and Rubio suspended visa services. Petro quickly backed down.

Raw self-interest

(AFP)


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