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US firm agrees to buy Panama Canal ports at center of Trump fury

  • CNN
  • March 4, 2025
New York

CNN

 — 

American asset management giant BlackRock has agreed to buy two ports at either end of the Panama Canal from a Hong Kong-based firm whose ownership had angered President Donald Trump.

Trump said several times during the lead-up to his inauguration and since taking office that he intends to "take back" the Panama Canal from Panama, which took over control of the crucial international waterway in 1999 under a treaty negotiated with the United States 20 years earlier. And he cited Chinese ownership of some of the port operations as a sign that China is now running the canal.

"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," said Trump during his inaugural address. At a January press conference ahead of his inauguration, Trump would not rule out using either military force or economic coercion to take control of the canal once again.

The deal announced Tuesday called for BlackRock and a consortium of fellow investors to spend $22.8 billion to buy the ports of Balboa and Cristobal on either end of the canal from CK Hutchison, a Hong Kong company. It said the deal is an "agreement in principal." BlackRock's consortium is also buying CK Hutchison's controlling interest in 43 other ports comprising 199 berths in 23 countries, but none of the ports it operates in China or Hong Kong.