U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said it was "absurd" to charge fees to the U.S. military for using the Panama Canal. His comments come after Panamanian Mulino on Thursday denied the U.S. State Department’s claim that his country had reached a deal allowing U.S. warships to transit the Panama Canal for free. Mulino said he had told U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Wednesday that he could neither set the fees to transit the canal nor exempt anyone from them and that he was surprised by the U.S. State Department’s statement suggesting otherwise late Wednesday.