Marco Rubio, on his first foreign trip as America’s top diplomat, held talks Sunday with President Jose Raul Mulino in Panama City.
Panama's President Jose Mulino, left, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrive for a meeting at the presidential palace in Panama City, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025.
A day after Trump announced he was imposing major tariffs on Canada and Mexico, prompting retaliation from those countries, Rubio was taking perhaps a less confrontational and more diplomatic approach cordially greeting Panama’s foreign minister, although neither he nor President José Raúl Mulino spoke publicly at their meeting.
On Sunday, about 200 people marched in Panama City, carrying Panamanian flags and shouting “Marco Rubio out of Panama,” “Long live national sovereignty” and “One territory, one flag” while the meeting was going on. Some burned a banner with images of Trump and Rubio after being stopped short of the presidential palace by riot police.
In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece on Friday, Rubio said mass migration, drugs and hostile policies pursued by Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela have wreaked havoc, and port facilities at the either end of the canal are run by a China-based company, leaving the waterway vulnerable to pressure from the Beijing government.
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