“ Canada is a sovereign state, yes ,” Pete Hoekstra told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He’s a former congressman who served as U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands in President Donald Trump ’s first term.

Potential plans range from partnering more closely with Panamanian security forces to a less likely option of U.S. troops' seizing the canal by force, U.S. officials told NBC News.

Donald Trump has said repeatedly that he wants to “take back” the Panama Canal but has not offered specifics about how he would do so. Here is an explanation of the history and laws governing the critical waterway.