U.S. investment giant BlackRock has secured a $22.8 billion deal to take control of key ports on both ends of the Panama Canal.
This is a major victory for President Donald Trump. He had a long-standing concern about China’s influence over the Panama Canal.
The agreement, announced Tuesday, marks a major shift in ownership.
BlackRock’s infrastructure arm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and its partner Terminal Investment Limited (TiL) will acquire the majority stake from Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison—a firm operating under the influence of the Chinese Communist Party.
The deal hands BlackRock control over the ports of Balboa and Cristobal, which sit at the Pacific and Atlantic gateways of the canal, respectively.
Additionally, the agreement extends to CK Hutchison’s stakes in 43 other ports across 23 countries.
This development comes after Trump publicly warned that China had gained an alarming foothold over the Panama Canal.
In a Christmas Day social media post, he accused Panama’s government of allowing “wonderful soldiers of China” to “lovingly, but illegally” operate the canal—an assertion that both Panamanian and Chinese officials dismissed.
Nonetheless, the presence of Chinese firms in the region, including their involvement in infrastructure projects like a cruise ship terminal and a planned bridge over the canal, has fueled geopolitical concerns about China’s expanding influence.
BlackRock’s CEO, Larry Fink, hailed the deal as a prime example of the firm’s ability to “deliver differentiated investments” and highlighted the importance of these “world-class ports” in global trade.
However, CK Hutchison’s co-managing director, Frank Sixt, insisted that the sale was “purely commercial” and unrelated to political pressure, despite the clear strategic implications of shifting control from a Chinese-linked company to a U.S.-based one.
Trump’s tough stance on China’s economic and military ambitions appears to have played a role in pushing this deal forward.
While CK Hutchison claims the sale was simply the result of a competitive bidding process, the timing of the transaction—following Trump’s criticisms—suggests that the former president’s influence still looms large on the global stage.
Pending regulatory approval, BlackRock’s acquisition will shift control of the Panama Canal’s key ports and provide the U.S. a stronger foothold in critical trade infrastructure.