President Trump on Tuesday celebrated increased American presence and influence over the Panama Canal, declaring in a speech to Congress that the U.S. is taking back the Panama Canal.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, BlackRock Inc. struck a $23 billion deal and secured control over key ports near the Panama Canal, stripping away Chinese-linked influence over one of the world’s most crucial shipping routes. This reportedly will effectively place the strategic ports under American control.
This comes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to Panama last month to meet with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino and Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha to discuss CCP control of the Panama Canal and fighting the border crisis.
President Trump commented on the deal, announced before his speech Tuesday, and indicated his administration will be reclaiming the entire Panama Canal.
He tasked Rubio with taking the area back.
WATCH:
Trump: To further enhance our national security, my administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we’ve already started doing it. Just today, a large American company announced they are buying both ports around the Panama Canal and lots of other things having to do with the Panama Canal and a couple of other canals.
The Panama Canal was built by Americans for Americans, not for others, but others could use it. But it was built at tremendous cost of American blood and treasure. 38,000 workers died building the Panama Canal. They died of malaria. They died of snake bites and mosquitoes, not a nice place to work. They paid them very highly to go there, knowing there was a 25% chance that they would die
. The most expensive project also that was ever built in our country’s history if you bring it up to modern-day costs. It was given away by the Carter administration for $1, but that agreement has been violated very severely. We didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.
RELATED: Trump hails ‘reclaiming’ of Panama Canal after BlackRock-led group’s deal to buy stake
An aerial view shows cargo vessels docked at Balboa Port, operated by Panama Ports Company, at the Panama Canal, in Panama City, Panama, February 1, 2025. REUTERS/Enea Lebrun/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
REUTERS | Published March 5, 2025
March 5 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump has hailed a deal led by U.S. firm BlackRock (BLK.N), opens new tab to buy most of the $22.8 billion ports business of Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison (0001.HK), opens new tab which includes assets along the Panama Canal.
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The deal will give the U.S. consortium control of key Panama Canal ports amid White House calls to remove them from what it says is Chinese ownership. But it also risks heightening tensions between the U.S. and Panama, which have tussled over Trump’s claims about the Canal.
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“My administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we’ve already started doing it,” Trump told the U.S. Congress.
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“Just today, a large American company announced they are buying both ports around the Panama Canal and lots of other things having to do with the Panama Canal and a couple of other canals.”
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Panama’s president, Jose Raul Mulino, said Trump was “once again lying” in a post on X on Wednesday morning.
“The Panama Canal is not in the process of being reclaimed … the Canal is Panamanian and will continue to be Panamanian!”
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The deal with the BlackRock-led consortium includes 90% of Panama Ports Company, which has operated the Balboa and Cristobal ports at each end of the canal for over two decades, said CK Hutchison.
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In total, the consortium, which includes Terminal Investment and Global Infrastructure Partners, will control 43 ports comprising 199 berths in 23 countries, the conglomerate said.
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The high purchase price sent CK Hutchison’s stock up more than 20% on Wednesday, outpacing a 2.8% rise in Hong Kong’s broader Hang Seng Index (.HSI), opens new tab. Its price is now the highest since August 1, 2023.
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The sale involves CK Hutchison’s 80% stake in Hutchison Ports with an equity value of $14.21 billion. However, the conglomerate will receive more than $19 billion following repayment of some shareholder loans.
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Goldman Sachs is advising CK Hutchison on the deal, two sources with knowledge of the deal said. Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
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The size of the proceeds would be similar to CK Hutchison’s entire Hong Kong market value prior to Wednesday’s share rally.
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The remainder of Hutchison Ports is owned by Singapore’s PSA International.
About 12,000 ships used the Panama Canal last year that connects 1,920 ports across 170 countries. Its position is strategic for the U.S. as more than three-quarters of vessels passing through originate in or are bound for the United States.
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“I would like to stress that the transaction is purely commercial in nature and wholly unrelated to recent political news reports concerning the Panama Ports,” CK Hutchison co-managing director Frank Sixt in a statement.
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Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Canal was under Chinese influence, while CK Hutchison is based in Hong Kong. Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997 with the guarantee its freedoms, including freedom of speech, would be protected under a “one country, two systems” formula.
The U.S. controlled the Canal and the area around it until it signed treaties in 1977 granting Panama control and sovereignty over the canal zone and guaranteeing its permanent neutrality. The treaties took effect in 1999.
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The U.S.’ involvement in the canal is widely considered a pain point for many Panamanians, with around two dozen protestors killed in a 1964 confrontation with Canal authorities.
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