Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said it was "absurd" that U.S. government ships are charged to use the Panama Canal after Panama denied a claim that it had agreed to allow them free traversal.

President José Raúl Mulino on Thursday denied a claim by the Trump administration that this Central American country had agreed to eliminate tolls for U.S. government ships using the Panama Canal, in an apparent setback to U.

The Panama Canal Authority said in a statement late on Wednesday that it had not made any changes to charges or rights to cross the canal, after the U.S. State Department said that U.S. government vessels could transit the crossing without being subject to such fees.