Trump's new top maritime official Louis Sola tells CNBC 'all options on the table' to punish Panama and defend U.S. business, trade and national security.

Whether it’s countering China, or pursuing a new U.S. expansionism, the president’s threats have already led to concrete action inside Panama, writes AQ’s editor-in-chief.

In recent weeks, when he was President-elect Donald Trump publicly said that Panama should return the Panama Canal to the United States, and he would not rule out using military force to reclaim it. At his presidential Inauguration on Monday Trump doubled down on saying that his new administration was going to take back the canal.

More than 100 years after the construction of the engineering marvel that linked the Atlantic and Pacific oceans — and 25 years after the canal was returned to Panama by the US — the Panama Canal faces renewed intimidation from US President Donald Trump.

Stephanie: In response to Trump’s inauguration speech, Panama President José Raúl Mulino said that “ the canal is and will remain Panama’s .” As you noted, Trump has already floated the idea of using military force to retake the canal. Do you think this could actually come to pass?

It’s impossible, I can’t negotiate,” Mulino said when asked about returning the canal to U.S. control. “That is done. The canal belongs to Panama.”

Colombia stopped resisting President Donald Trump’s deportation of its unwanted nationals. But America First bullying may yet provoke a backlash. The row casts a pall over the first trip abroad by Marco Rubio,

Russia warned President Trump on Tuesday against seizing the Panama Canal, after he reiterated his intent to take control of the strategic waterway in his second inaugural address Monday.

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Tuesday expressed alarm at China's influence on the Panama Canal, which President Donald Trump has vowed the United States would take back.

The answer is simple: there is no greater or more idealistic symbol of U.S. power in the world than the Panama Canal. As Trump seeks a way to enhance the country's power in the world, leaning on imagery regarding the Panama Canal provides just the right message.

President Donald Trump cannot take the Panama Canal — at least not legally — as he would be violating every single treaty that the U.S. has come into with Panama since 1945, international law and national security experts told WLRN.