Central American nation offers closer cooperation on migration and security while seeking to ease U.S. fears about Chinese influence over the Panama Canal.

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Tuesday expressed alarm at China's influence on the Panama Canal, which President Donald Trump has vowed the United States would take back.

The Panamanian leader added he will not allow his country’s “total superiority” of the shipping channel to be lessened.

Trump has called for the U.S. to take back control of the Panama Canal, warning of heavy Chinese activity in the region.

President Trump's priorities of immigration enforcement and promoting U.S. interests in the Panama Canal lead the political agenda in Washington.

Panama has owned and administered the Panama Canal for nearly three decades. President Trump wants to change that to counter growing Chinese influence in Latin America.

When the Panama Canal was unveiled by the United States in 1914, the roughly 50-mile-long waterway symbolized American power and technological advancement. But the glow of progress soon faded. Building the canal killed roughly 5,

Trump has suggested using military force to retake the Panama Canal, but such an action would involve complications.

President Trump is stirring the pot with claims of Chinese control and unfair tolls, while Panama insists it’s just fine running its own show, despite the looming specter of American intervention.

Nancy Soderberg, a former United Nations ambassador and the director of the Public Service Leadership Program at UNF, joins Bruce Hamilton on Politics & Power this week to see if President Donald Trump is trying to gain the upper hand with China or even truly has an expansionist agenda.

President Trump's priorities of immigration enforcement and promoting U.S. interests in the Panama Canal lead the political agenda in Washington.