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.

PHOENIX — Donald Trump suggested Sunday that his new administration could try to regain control of the Panama Canal that the United States “foolishly” ceded to its Central American ally, contending that shippers are charged “ridiculous” fees to pass through the vital transportation channel linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino shot back Sunday after President-elect Trump suggested the Panama Canal return to U.S. control. “As president, I want to express clearly that every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent zone belongs to Panama,