Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino responded "be serious, be serious" on Wednesday when asked in Davos whether he was concerned the U.S. would invade after President Donald Trump said he would take back the Panama Canal.

Panama and China have pushed back against United States President Donald Trump’s controversial claims regarding the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal “was not a gift” from the US, Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino said on Wednesday in response to Trump’s threat to seize control of the strategic waterway.

Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino dismissed concerns Wednesday in Davos, urging reporters to 'be serious' when asked about the possibility of a

In recent weeks, when he was President-elect Donald Trump publicly said that Panama should return the Panama Canal to the United States, and he would not rule out using military force to reclaim it. At his presidential Inauguration on Monday Trump doubled down on saying that his new administration was going to take back the canal.

Some Panamanians saw Trump's remarks as a way of applying pressure on Panama for something else he wants: better control of migration through the Darien Gap.

More than 100 years after the construction of the engineering marvel that linked the Atlantic and Pacific oceans — and 25 years after the canal was returned to Panama by the US — the Panama Canal faces renewed intimidation from US President Donald Trump.

President Trump said of the Panama Canal, “We’re taking it back.” The letter from Panama cited articles of the U.N. charter that prohibit member states from using threats and force.

Panama has alerted the United Nations - in a letter seen by Reuters on Tuesday - to U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks during his inauguration speech, when he vowed that the United States would take back the Panama Canal.