China Eyes Panama Canal Ports while the BlackRock Agreement is missing the deadline

China could soon earn a greater influence on the Panama Canal after the collapse of an agreement proposed between Blackrock in the United States and Hong Kong CK Hutchison, which initially triggered tensions with Beijing.

The initial agreement would have transferred the control of dozens of international ports – including two in Panama – to a consortium involving Blackrock. The agreement would have been greeted by former President Donald Trump, who expressed his support for the reduction of Chinese influence on the canal and even launched the idea that the United States “resumes” the strategic navigable way.

However, Beijing has rejected. China pleaded for the public shipping giant to be included in the transaction, signaling its desire for direct participation, and not only indirect through Hutchison, based in Hong Kong, in canal operations.

In the middle of the growing pressure of China and the threat of an anti-monopoly investigation, CK Hutchison announced on Monday that the exclusive negotiation window with Blackrock had expired. However, the company also reported its opening to the reconfiguration of the agreement.

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He declared that it “would remain open to discussions in order to invite a major strategic investor of the (People’s Republic of China) to join as an important member of the consortium”. According to the company, changes in the structure of the agreements and the composition of the participants are necessary to obtain the approval of “all the competent authorities”.

Aerial view shows freight ships initiated at the port of Balboa, operated by Panama Ports Company, on the Panama Canal in Panama City on February 1, 2025. (Photo Reuters / Enea Lebrun / File)

The initial agreement of $ 23 billion concerned the transfer of ownership of 43 ports in 23 countries – including the two critical Panamanian ports located at each end of the canal in Balboa and Cristobal. CK Hutchison has exploited both since 1997. The firm belongs to the richest human family in Hong Kong, Li Ka-Shing.

China’s growing imprint in Latin American infrastructure has long raised bipartisan alarms in Washington. However, Trump is distinguished as the first modern American president to suggest recovering the Panama Canal, which the United States completed in 1914 and presented Panama in 1999 under a treaty signed in 1977 during the Carter administration.

The billion dollars imprint in China near the Florida coast presents a risk of American national security, warns the expert

“China exploits the Panama Canal, and we didn’t give it to China – we gave it to Panama – and we take it back,” Trump said.

An analyst believes that China could ultimately be excluded from the holdings of the port of Panama while taking control of most other assets in the greatest agreement.

“China will insist that it is the counterpart: that the other world ports have the participation of Cosco. And obviously, Cosco is already a major world port holder,” said Dane Chamorro, responsible for the global analysis of risks in the risk of consulting companies, in an interview with Fox News Digital.

An cargo cargo crosses the Agua Clara locks from the Panama Canal to Colon, Panama, September 2, 2024. (AP photo / Matias Delacroix, file)

The family of the Hong Kong Li Ka-Shing billionaire is CK Hutchison. (Reuters / Bobby Yip)

“From the point of view of the United States, they could say:” Okay, super – we have obtained Hutchison, or China (because they tend to refer them interchangeably), of the two ports of Panama. “But in the long term, this can cause even more ports worldwide in the hands of a Chinese state entity.”

If this happens, Cosco – thanks to this wider consolidation – would “become” by far the owner and operator of the dominant port on a global scale, “said Chamorro. “This is aligned with the fact that China is the largest commercial economy in the world, the largest manufacturing economy and the largest naval manufacturer.”

Chamorro also noted that American companies do not offer the same global scale in the port industry as Chinese companies, Hong Kong or Singaporean.

The Hutchison -Blackrock failed agreement underlines the precarious position of Hong Kong companies under increasing pressures of Beijing to prioritize national loyalty – even when it threatens links with Western partners.

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Meanwhile, Panama insists on the fact that it retains full sovereignty on the channel itself and maintains that the operation by Hutchison of port facilities does not grant any influence on the operations of the canal.