Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino firmly dismissed former U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement that the United States would “take back” the Panama Canal. In a statement issued Monday, Mulino reaffirmed Panama’s sovereign control over the vital interoceanic waterway.

“I must comprehensively reject the words of President Donald Trump,” Mulino stated on social media. “The canal is and will remain Panama’s.”

Mulino also refuted Trump’s claim that China is operating the canal, emphasizing that no foreign nation has any influence over its management. “There is no presence of any nation in the world that interferes,” he said.

The Panama Canal, a critical global shipping route, was constructed by the United States and opened in 1914. However, it was officially transferred to Panama on December 31, 1999, under the terms of treaties signed in the late 1970s by then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos.

The statement underscores Panama’s firm stance on its sovereignty over the canal, which remains a symbol of national pride and independence.