In recent weeks, when he was President-elect Donald Trump publicly said that Panama should return the Panama Canal to the United States, and he would not rule out using military force to reclaim it. At his presidential Inauguration on Monday Trump doubled down on saying that his new administration was going to take back the canal.

In his inaugural speech, President Trump claimed that Panama had "broken" a promise to remain neutral, alleging that "China is operating the Panama Canal". President Jose Raul Mulino said he rejected Trump's words in their "entirety",