The President accused China of “lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal.” The truth is more complicated.

In his inaugural address last month, Donald Trump described the US decision to hand full control of the canal to Panama, in 1999, as "a foolish gift that should have never been made".

Fitch has already cut its Panama score to 'junk' and if either Moody's, which has it on a downgrade warning, or S&P Global follow suit, Panama's bonds would get ejected from key investment grade-only bond indexes. That in turn is likely to trigger further sell-offs.