Did Trump Just Win Over Beijing? Panama Canal Ports Held by Chinese Entity Will Be Transferred to US Ownership

A company based in Hong Kong agreed to sell two port facilities in the Panama Canal to American asset management behemoth BlackRock, a move that comes after President Donald Trump raised the alarm about Chinese influence over the critical piece of infrastructure.

CK Hutchison, the Hong Kong firm that operates the two ports, one at the Atlantic Ocean entrance and the other at the Pacific Ocean entrance, announced the $22.8 billion deal Tuesday, according to a report from the BBC.

The British news outlet observed that, while CK Hutchison is not owned by the government of China, it operates under the communist nation’s financial laws.

CK Hutchison has controlled the two ports since 1997.

The deal between BlackRock and CK Hutchison, which involves a total of 43 ports in 23 countries around the world, requires approval from the Panamanians.

The arrangement follows Trump repeatedly calling for the United States to regain control of the 51-mile Panama Canal, which was initially built by Americans under the direction of President Theodore Roosevelt.

“China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China,” Trump said during his inaugural address two months ago, according to a report from Politico.

“We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”

The sale of the ports to BlackRock also occurred one month after Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino announced that the Latin American country would allow its participation in the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s infamous worldwide development project, to expire.

China has been accused of engaging in debt-trap diplomacy through the program, trading development loans for functional control of emerging markets’ resources and infrastructure.

To be clear, BlackRock may be an American company, but it’s not exactly an ally to American interests, especially those held by conservatives.

The highly influential asset manager has an established record of pressuring portfolio companies to comply with the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement, actions to mitigate so-called climate risk, and other facets of the environmental, social, and governance approach to investing.

In essence, ESG is a tool that leftist activists in corporate America use to shift companies’ priorities away from maximizing profit and toward woke social experiments.

But reducing the foothold China has over the Panama Canal is still a positive development.

The Panama Canal is absolutely essential to the economic and military interests of the United States.

For centuries, the United States has recognized that foreign powers operating in our hemisphere are threats to our security.

Any step toward securing our place as the hegemon of the Americas is a step in the right direction.

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