Panama has reportedly submitted a formal letter to the U.N. rejecting Trump's statement about reclaiming the canal. The country's President José Raúl Mulino said in the letter, dated January 20, that the canal "is and will continue to be Panama's," the New York Times reported.

Panama has alerted the United Nations - in a letter seen by Reuters on Tuesday - to U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks during his inauguration speech, when he vowed that the United States would take back the Panama Canal.

In his inaugural address, President Donald Trump reiterated threats he has made about the Panama Canal, claiming, "we're taking it back." He'd previously declared that the rates Panama charges for access to the Panama Canal violated the “magnanimous gesture” the U.

Some Panamanians saw Trump's remarks as a way of applying pressure on Panama for something else he wants: better control of migration through the Darien Gap.