Panama President Jose Raul Mulino said on Thursday the United States was spreading "lies and falsehoods" after the State Department claimed U.S. government vessels would be able to pass the Panama Canal without paying.

Panama President José Raúl Mulino has rejected the U.S. State Department’s claim that his country had reached a deal allowing U.S. warships to transit the Panama Canal for free.

The Panama Canal Authority on Wednesday denied the U.S. State Department's claim that U.S. government vessels would be able to cross the canal without paying fees, likely ratcheting up tensions after President Donald Trump threatened to take back control of the crossing.

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.

President Jose Raul Mulino denied that his government had granted free passage for American government ships through the Panama Canal in response to Donald Trump’s threats to reclaim the waterway, accusing the US of “lies and falsehoods.

Panama President Jose Raul Mulino on Thursday accused the United States government of lying a day earlier when the U.S. State Department claimed that U.S. government vessels would be able to cross the country's namesake canal without paying fees.