The U.S. helped Panama secede from Colombia in 1903 to build the passage that now carries more than 10,000 ships a year.

President-elect Donald Trump is decrying the increased fees Panama has imposed to use the waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

President-elect Donald Trump over the weekend suggested the US should retake the Panama Canal, an idea that was immediately rejected by the government of Panama, which has controlled the passage for decades.