US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has headed to Panama after the newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump threatened to “take back” the strategic Panama Canal by force.

The top US diplomat met Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino on Sunday in an effort towards Trump’s demand for the Panama Canal to be returned to the United States.

However, Panamanians have rejected Trump’s demand with Mulino affirming that there will be no negotiation with the Americans over the issue of the canal’s ownership.

Panamanians have staged anti-US protests, condemning Trump’s plan to take back the Panama Canal.

Protesters in Panama City carried Panamanian flags, chanting “Marco Rubio out of Panama,” “Long live national sovereignty” and “One territory, one flag.”

During the protests, placards with images of Trump and Rubio were set on fire.

The Panama Canal is being run by the Chinese Hutchison Ports Company. Panama gave the Hong Kong-based company a 25-year no-bid extension to run the canal’s operations.

The company operates ports at either end of the Panama Canal.

Rubia said in an opinion piece run by WSJ on Friday that Washington fears growing Chinese influence over the strategic waterway.

He cited the port facilities run by the China-based company in Panama Canal, as well as mass migration, drugs and hostile policies pursued by Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela as the issues he would raise during his meeting with Panamanian officials.

“We’re going to address that topic,” Rubio said.

“The president’s been pretty clear he wants to administer the canal again. Obviously, the Panamanians are not big fans of that idea. That message has been brought very clear,” he added.

After Panama, Rubio will travel to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.

Trump, in his inauguration speech last month, reiterated his promise on the campaign trail to “take back” the Panama Canal from the Panamanians.

The US gained control of the failed and incomplete Panama Canal project from the French government in 1904.

By 1914, the canal had been successfully completed by the Americans and opened as a major international shipping route linking the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. 

The US continued to control the canal and surrounding Panama Canal Zone until 1999.

In 1977, then-US President Jimmy Carter signed a deal relinquishing US control of the Panama Canal by the end of the century. The Latin American country now controls it.