A key focus of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Central America this week — his first trip as America’s top diplomat — will be to counter China’s growing influence in the region, the State Department’s top spokesperson said this week,

A key focus of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Central America this week — his first trip as America’s top diplomat — will be to counter China’s growing influence in the region, the State Department’s top spokesperson said this week.

Panama will be one of the first stops for new Secretary of State Marco Rubio as he heads overseas late next week

The new administration's immigration crackdown is likely to be among the top issues during talks, but US President Donald Trump's claim that the Central American nation had ceded control of the Panama Canal to China will also loom large.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will likely travel to Central America in the first week of February, a source familiar with the planning said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit to Central America comes after President Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to take the Panama Canal back.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit to Central America aims to counter China's growing influence. Amid President Trump's agenda to 'take back' the Panama Canal, concerns rise over U.S. intentions.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Thursday that Rubio will ... calling for the United States to reclaim the Panama Canal. He suggested in his inauguration address on Monday that ...

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters Thursday that ... said there’s a “very legitimate issue” with the Panama Canal, echoing criticism from Trump over China’s influence ...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Panama on his first trip abroad as the top U.S. diplomat after President

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to visit Panama — the country whose canal President Donald Trump has suggested he’d seize — as early as next week, according to three U.S. officials briefed on the plan.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio will make his first official trip abroad next week to Central America, including a stop in Panama, which President Donald Trump has riled with talk of trying to reclaim the Panama Canal.