China may have investments in the operations of the Panama Canal but its soldiers are not operating it.

US President Donald Trump said the US would take back the Panama Canal, decrying China’s influence over the important waterway and the high rates being charged to American ships. In his inauguration speech on Monday,

Trump's claim that Chinese soldiers exercise authority over the Panama Canal is inaccurate, but his assertion that China manipulates the use of the passage is a long-held U.S. concern.