US President Donald Trump's threat to seize the Panama Canal over alleged undue Chinese influence may really be aimed at limiting Beijing's growing diplomatic and economic presence in Latin America, experts say.

Actually using force to take the interoceanic waterway, which carries five percent of world maritime trade and 40 percent of US container traffic, seems an unlikely endeavor, they concur.

Here's what we know:

Constructed by the United States mainly with Afro-Caribbean labor and opened in 1914, the canal was administered by America until 1977, when treaties were signed under then-US president Jimmy Carter for its handover to Panama.

Since the handover in 1999, the canal has been managed by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) -- an autonomous entity whose board of directors is appointed by the legislature and president of Panama.

The government has granted concessions to private company Hutchinson Ports -- a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings -- to operate ports on either extreme of the 82-kilometer (51-mile) waterway.

According to Rebecca Bill Chavez of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank, "Panama has honored the canal treaties........

© International Business Times