Rubio’s Latin American trip highlights the region’s importance to U.S. national security and immigration crisis.

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.

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.

The visit follows controversial remarks by President Donald Trump last month claiming that "wonderful soldiers of China" were operating the Panama Canal "lovingly but illegally." Trump also threatened that the US would "retake" the key canal, which it originally built in the early 20th century.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio would travel to Panama and several other countries in the region later next week, his spokesperson said on Thursday.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to head to Panama soon for his first international trip as the nation’s top diplomat, Fox News has learned.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will pay his first trip starting next week to Central American nations including Panama, where President Donald Trump has threatened to seize the Panama Canal, a spokeswoman said Thursday.

Mr Rubio will visit Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. Read more at straitstimes.com.

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

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Rubio would travel to Panama as well as Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is traveling to Panama late next week in his first official diplomatic trip late, amid heightened tensions over President Trump’s threats to retake the Panama Canal. Panama President José Raúl Mulino has rejected Trump’s accusations that the key trade route is being operated by China and lodged complaints with