Panama City, Panama - Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino on Thursday ruled out negotiations with the US over ownership of the Panama Canal as he prepares to host Donald Trump's Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Trump, in his inaugural address on January 20, alleged that China was effectively "operating" the waterway that the US handed to the Central American nation in 1999.

"We didn't give it to China, we gave it to Panama. And we're taking it back," Trump said.

But Mulino said opening negotiations on ownership of the canal "is impossible."

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"I cannot negotiate, much less open a process of negotiations on the canal. That [the matter] is sealed. The canal is Panama's," he said at his weekly press conference.

Panama, long a friend of the US, has complained to the United Nations over Trump's threat.

Nevertheless, Mulino said there are common issues, such as migration and the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking, that he would be happy to discuss with Rubio when he visits in the coming days.

"We are more than willing to talk with respect and very clearly... with the secretary of state," said the president, without giving a date for the meeting.

Rubio's first trip abroad as Trump's top envoy will take him to Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic.

The visit comes amid high tension between Latin America and Washington over Trump's plans for mass deportations of undocumented migrants, most of whom come from the region.

Despite the strain, Mulino stressed that Panama had a "privileged relationship" with the US, "not China."

"The relationship with the United States is strong, it has always been so, there have been ups and downs, love and hate, but there has always been a strong relationship that... has allowed us to overcome very, very complicated situations," he said.