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Trump announces we have begun reclaiming Panama Canal, large American companies have purchased ports

March 5, 2025 | | Print Article

President Donald Trump on Tuesday celebrated America’s re-acquirement of the Panama Canal from the Chinese.

“My administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we’ve already started doing it,” he said during a speech to Congress. “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.”

Listen:

The remarks were made after the American asset firm BlackRock agreed to purchase two ports, each one of them at the other end of the Panama Canal, from a Hong Kong-based company the president had previously complained about on several occasions.

“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,” according to CNN.

“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,” CNN’s reporting continues.

Note that Hong Kong is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

BlackRock will reportedly partner with Terminal Investment Limited (TIL) to operate the ports alongside the BlackRock subsidiary Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).

“This agreement is a powerful illustration of BlackRock and GIP’s combined platform and our ability to deliver differentiated investments for clients,” BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in a statement. “These world-class ports facilitate global growth.”

“Through our deep connectivity to organizations like Hutchison and MSC/TIL and governments around the world, we are increasingly the first call for partners seeking patient, long-term capital. We are thrilled our clients can participate in this investment,” he added.

Trump has for months been complaining about how the Panama Canal is essentially controlled by the Chinese.

“Merry Christmas to all, including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal (where we lost 38,000 people in its building 110 years ago), always making certain that the United States puts in Billions of Dollars in ‘repair’ money, but will have absolutely nothing to say about ‘anything,'” he wrote in a Truth Social post on Jan. 4th.

His accusation was based on China’s deep-seated involvement with the canal.

“Chinese companies have increased their investment in Panama in recent years, including at facilities related to the canal, such as a terminal for cruise ships and a bridge that’s planned to be built over the canal,” according to Fox Business Network.

“The presence of those firms has sparked geopolitical concerns given the government of China’s ability to control Chinese companies to advance strategic goals,” FBN’s reporting continues.

Despite Trump’s griping about China’s involvement with the canal, CK Hutchison’s co-Managing Director Frank Sixt claimed in a statement that the decision to sell had nothing to do with politics.

Instead, he said the deal was the “result of a rapid, discrete but competitive process in which numerous bids and expressions of interest were received.”

“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,” he added.

The “transaction” was nevertheless celebrated on social media as another win for the Trump administration.

Look:

Vivek Saxena
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