[Salon] After Trump threats, Hong Kong firm says it will sell stake in Panama Canal ports

[Chas Freeman <cwfresidence@gmail.com>]

After Trump threats, Hong Kong firm says it will sell stake in Panama Canal ports

Trump threatened to take back the canal because of what he called Chinese influence. CK Hutchison, a Hong Kong company, is selling its control in a firm that ran two ports on the canal.

March 4, 2025   The Washington Post

A cargo ship waits at Balboa port before crossing the Panama Canal in Panama City on Feb. 4. (Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images)

By Mary Beth Sheridan

A Hong Kong-based company announced Tuesday that it would sell its stake in two ports on the Panama Canal to a U.S.-led consortium, apparently responding to threats from President Donald Trump over what he called Chinese influence over the critical waterway.

CK Hutchison said the proposed sale was part of a bigger deal in which a consortium led by Blackrock Inc. would acquire an 80 percent interest in its units that owned, operated and developed 43 other ports in 23 countries.

CK Hutchison had held 90 percent control of the Panama Ports Company, which owns and operates the ports of Balboa and Cristobal on either end of the canal. Companies from the United States, Taiwan and Singapore operate other ports at the canal.

Trump has threatened to take back the canal from Panama, which acquired full control under a 1979 treaty with the United States. In his inaugural address, Trump said: “China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back”

Panama’s president has insisted he had no intention of returning the canal to U.S. control.