Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, will travel to Central America this week on a five-country tour that will focus on limiting migration to the United States, curbing Chinese influence in the region and on securing Donald Trump’s ambitious goal of reasserting US control over the Panama canal.
Rubio will travel to Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic from Saturday to Thursday this week, meeting with the presidents of each. It is the first time in more than a century that a secretary’s first official visit abroad will be to Central America.
“This is a truly historic visit that Secretary Rubio will be paying to the region,” said Mauricio Claver-Carone, United States special envoy for Latin America. “I can’t stress enough the historic nature of this visit and how it harkens back to President Trump’s overall message during his inauguration of the golden age of the Americas.”
Tammy Bruce, the state department spokeswoman, added: “This is where we live. This is who we are. This is about not just wanting to have new partnerships – but that’s always good – but the nature of what it means to have an extended relationship with the people closest to you.”
The visit will come just 10 days into a Trump administration that has already caused significant concern in the region, by declaring in his inaugural address that the US was “taking back” the Panama canal and then proceeding to threaten Colombia with 25% tariffs for refusing to take US deportees sent to the country aboard military transport planes.
“I think the president’s been pretty clear he wants to administer the canal again,” Rubio, who is scheduled to meet with Panamanian president José Raúl Mulino and tour the canal this weekend, said during a television interview.
“Obviously, the Panamanians are not big fans of that idea. But that does not in any way replace the core reality that the Panama canal, we cannot allow any foreign power – particularly China – to hold that kind of potential control over it that they do. That just can’t continue.”
Panama has launched an audit of several ports along the canal that are owned by a company based in China in a potential bid to appease Trump. But Panama’s comptroller has told the Guardian that the audits are motivated by politics and that they are not designed to deliver a peace offering to the United States.
“I cannot negotiate and much less open a process of negotiation on the canal,” Mulino told reporters on Thursday. “That is sealed. The canal belongs to Panama.”
Rubio also is expected to discuss curbing migration to the United States via Panama with Mulino. Panama’s government said that 300,000 migrants crossed the Darien Gap into Panama in 2024. That is 42% fewer than the previous year, Reuters reported.
Rubio will then travel to El Salvador, where he will meet with the hardline president Nayib Bukele, who has used a self-described “iron fist” to crack down on violence in the country.
“Just decades ago – it was just a decade ago San Salvador was the murder capital of the world, and today it’s one of the safest cities in the world,” said Claver-Carone. “And those extraordinary measures, which are frankly the envy of a lot of countries throughout the western hemisphere, has really made him one of the most consequential leaders not only on security but a great ally on migration.”
Throughout the visit, Rubio is expected to focus on combating growing Chinese influence in the region. China has become South America’s largest trading partner and is seeking to grow its “belt and road initiative” in Central America as well.
“Everyone thought that China was literally going to become the most influential force throughout the Americas,” said Claver-Carone. “This is a re-pivot of the golden age of America, of the Americas, to leave, unequivocally, without a doubt, that the 21st century, akin to the 20th century, will be an American century.”
