The government of Panama filed a complaint to the United Nations following Trump's threat, referring to an article of the UN Charter precluding any member from "the threat or use of force" against the territorial integrity or political independence of another.

Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino on Thursday ruled out negotiations with the United States over ownership of the Panama Canal as he prepares to host Donald Trump's Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Trump, in his inaugural address on January 20, alleged that China was effectively "operating" the waterway which the United States handed to the Central American nation in 1999.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared Thursday that President Trump’s interest in taking control of Greenland and the Panama Canal “is not a joke” and vital to US national security interests. “This is not a joke,” Rubio said during an appearance on SiriusXM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show,” when asked specifically about the president’s comments about Greenland. “This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land,” the secretary of state continued. “This is in our national interest and it needs to be solved.”