The United States will take back the Panama Canal from Chinese influence, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday during a visit to the Central American nation.

Capt. Efrain Hallax, 73, has been steering vessels through the canal, and he has seen it all, from a dictator’s fall to the rise of U.S. interest in retaking the waterway.

Donald Trump has complained about the U.S. relinquishing control of the waterway to Panama more than 20 years ago and has threatened to retake it,