People participate in a ceremony celebrating the 25th anniversary of the handover of the Panama Canal in Panama City, Panama, on Dec. 31, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino on Monday rejected the position of U.S. President Donald Trump demanding the return of the Panama Canal.

The Panamanian president stressed that the Republic of Panama and its people reject "comprehensively the words outlined by President Donald Trump related to Panama and its Canal, in his inaugural speech."

The canal "is and will continue to be Panama's and its administration will continue to be under Panamanian control with respect to its permanent neutrality," Mulino said on social media platform X.

He specified there is no presence of any nation in the world that interferes with the administration of Panama.

For 25 years, "uninterruptedly, we have managed and expanded it responsibly to serve the world and its commerce, including the United States," the president said.

Mulino said Panama will exercise "the law that protects us, the legal basis of the Treaty (Torrijos-Carter), the dignity that distinguishes us and the strength that international law gives us as the ideal way to manage relations between countries and, above all, between allied and friendly countries, as demonstrated by history and our actions with respect to the United States."

Dialogue is always the way to clarify the points mentioned without undermining "our right, total sovereignty and ownership of our channel," he added.

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