Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino on Thursday rejected U.S. claims that American warships and boats can transit the Panama Canal without paying a standard fee. In a weekly news conference,

Panama's president says the State Department's claim of an agreement granting U.S. warships free canal passage was "based on a falsity. And that's intolerable."

The Panamanian leader says he was “incredibly surprised” by the statement, as President Trump threatens a U.S. takeover of the strategic waterway.