Panama denied a claim made by the State Department on Wednesday that the Central American nation had agreed to no longer charge fees for US government ships to transit the country’s famous canal.

Panama has denied making changes to allow US government vessels to transit the Panama Canal for free, following White House claims it had agreed to such a move. The State Department said in a statement on X that its government vessels "can now transit the Panama Canal without charge fees, saving the US government millions of dollars a year".

The U.S. Department of State said on Wednesday American government vessels can now transit the Panama Canal without charge fees.