The Panama Canal will remain in Panamanian hands, and open to commerce from all countries, Ricaurte Vásquez, the administrator of the waterway, said on Friday.
Making exceptions to current rules concerning the canal's operation in favor of the US would lead to “chaos”, he said.
In recent weeks, Trump has suggested several times that he may take back control of the canal, and as the future US president, he will not rule out using military options to do so.
“It might be that you will have to do something,” Trump said on Tuesday. “The Panama Canal is vital to our country.”
Trump has slammed the fees requested from US-flagged ships for transiting the canal that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as “ridiculous”.
Panama’s president, José Raúl Mulino, has declared unequivocally that the canal will remain in Panamanian hands.
“The most sensible and efficient way to do this is to maintain the established rules,” he said, emphasizing that the canal will not give special treatment to US-flagged ships.
He said Trump's requests for exceptions are routinely rejected, because the process is clear and there must not be arbitrary variations.
The US built the canal in the early 1900s as it looked for ways to facilitate the transit of commercial and military vessels between its coasts.
The canal cuts across Panama, running 51 miles end to end. It allows ships to avoid the longer and costlier trip around Cape Horn at the tip of South America.
Washington relinquished control of the waterway to Panama on December 31,1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by late President Jimmy Carter.
MNA/