US Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to travel to Panama next week following President Donald Trump’s statements that the United States will seek gaining control of the Panama Canal, Bloomberg said, citing a source, Report informs via TASS.

According to the source, the trip is to underscore “President Donald Trump’s seriousness about taking back the Panama Canal.”

Apart from Panama, Rubio is expected to visit Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and El Salvador.

“Normally the first trip by the head of the State Department is to a geopolitically important US ally, with predecessors Antony Blinken going to Japan and Rex Tillerson (US Secretary of State in 2017-2018 – TASS) to Germany,” the agency noted.