After decades of being a forgotten relic of U.S. history, Panama and its canal are front and center as President Donald Trump defines a new era of America First involvement in the world.
At his joint session of Congress on March 4, Trump said, “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.
“Thirty-eight thousand 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 percent 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.”
Trump’s closing remarks on the topic explained this administration’s future plans.
“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,” he said.
BlackRock Makes Port Offer
The company that Trump was referring to was BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world, with about $11.5 trillion under management. The timing of the announcement was likely not coincidental.
The current port company with a multi-year concession from Panama to operate container terminals at each end of the canal is CK Hutchison Holdings, which was known as Hutchison Whampoa until 2015. This company traces its roots to Hong Kong in 1863 and was sold to billionaire Li Ka-shing of Hong Kong.
When asked about the planned sale at a news briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, CNN reported that she said, “I would like to emphasize that China has always firmly opposed the use of economic coercion, hegemonism, and bullying to infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of other countries.”
It is interesting that this comment cannot be found in the transcript of the press briefing on the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.
The Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation’s anti-monopoly division stated that they are now reviewing the sale.
“We are aware of the comments made by China,“ U.S. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said. ”It’s also no surprise that the CCP is upset at this acquisition, which will reduce their control over the Panama Canal area.
“We are also glad to see U.S. investors acquire a controlling stake in the Panama Ports Company, which owns and operates the ports at Balboa and Cristóbal at either end of the Panama Canal.”
The New Great Game
It is important to note that the proposed CK Hutchison sale to BlackRock for $22 billion was not only for its two Panama ports but also its worldwide array of ports.
The Epoch Times talked to Ann Vandersteel and Michael Yon, two journalists who have spent extensive time in Panama. The author of this article also spent several days in Panama in late 2023 with these two journalists, conducting a comprehensive survey of the Panama Canal, and did live reporting from the canal for NTD News, the sister media outlet of The Epoch Times.
Vandersteel pointed to her recent article on the port sale drama and noted: “The deal would have given BlackRock operational control over 43 ports in 23 countries, including 199 berths across key maritime chokepoints. This would have instantly wiped out about one-third of the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China] global port reach, dealing a colossal blow to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastructure.”
Yon said the Port of Balboa on the Pacific end of the Panama Canal was at an extremely constrained point on the canal, which is little more than a ship’s length across.
He said that this exact point at the Port of Balboa that Hutchison is under long-term concession to operate “is quite a chokepoint” that could very quickly block the canal if there was a similar incident to the 2024 Baltimore Bridge ship allision or the 2021 Suez Canal incident in which a Taiwanese super-size container ship, the Ever Given, unexplainedly wedged itself in the Suez, totally blocking traffic for six days.
There have been past incidents, Yon noted, such as the 2020 ship collision in the Panama Canal that destroyed the railway bridge across the canal.
All viewpoints are personal and do not reflect the viewpoints of any organization.
This article first appeared in Epoch Times and was reprinted with permission, with minor editorial adjustments for clarity and formatting.
