A consortium led by US asset management firm BlackRock will take control of two key Panama Canal ports as part of a broader deal with the Hong Kong conglomerate, in what Donald Trump described as a major foreign policy victory for his administration.
This follows threats by the US president to "take back" the canal, which the US helped build, over unsubstantiated claims that China has too much influence there.
Under the deal, worth nearly $23 billion (€21.5 billion), the BlackRock consortium will take control of 43 ports in 23 countries, including the ports of Balboa and Cristóbal, which are located on both sides of the Panama Canal.
Other ports included in the sale are in countries such as Australia, Egypt, the Netherlands and Mexico. The agreement does not include any ports in China or Hong Kong.
Trump welcomed the transaction during a speech to Congress on Tuesday. "My administration will reclaim the Panama Canal, and we've already started," he told the politicians.
In recent months, allies of the US president have been pushing back against what they perceive as Beijing's strong presence in Panama.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz claimed in January, without citing evidence, that Panama's ports, which are operated by CK Hutchison Holding, a Hong Kong conglomerate founded by billionaire Li Ka-shing, "provide China with a ready observation post".
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio then visited Panama in early February and warned Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino that his country must limit Chinese influence on the canal.
Although Mulino dismissed U.S. claims about Beijing, his government soon announced it was pulling out of China's Belt and Road Initiative, which funds major infrastructure projects abroad.
Frank Sixt, co-director of CK Hutchison, denied in a statement on the transaction that it was due to political pressure.
He stated that the sale was "the result of a rapid, discrete but competitive process in which many bids and expressions of interest were received".
"I would like to emphasize that the transaction is purely commercial in nature and completely unrelated to recent political news regarding Panama's ports," Sixt added.
The BlackRock consortium includes the Swiss company Terminal Investment Limited.
euronews/ gnews.cz - RoZ
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