Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said it was "absurd" that U.S. government ships are charged to use the Panama Canal after Panama denied a claim that it had agreed to allow them free traversal.

The State Department claimed it had struck a deal that would save the U.S. government “millions of dollars a year.”

Panama denied a claim made by the State Department on Wednesday that the Central American nation had agreed to no longer charge fees for US government ships to transit the country’s famous canal.