A few months ago, the deal was that the BlackRock-TiL consortium would “acquire CK Hutchison’s port operations for $22.8bn,” and the ShipTechnology site was saving us from a fallacy: “This deal does not make the Panama Canal ‘American’ as some have claimed” (March 5, 2025).
I had gathered that the ports which BlackRock was to take over under the agreement included two ports near the Panama Canal. Also that Chinese influence in Panama had been growing. The deal would have removed the two Canal-adjacent ports from the control of a Hong Kong–based company, CK Hutchison, that is in turn subject to the control of the Chinese Communist Party.
That the Chinese government’s ability to interfere with Hutchison was a legitimate concern is shown by the fact that BlackRock’s deal with Hutchison to take over its interests in 43 ports was soon angrily denounced and blocked by the Chinese government.
It now looks as if the sale may yet go through, though hardly in its original form: “Several China state-backed firms—including the country’s largest shipping company—are reportedly in talks to join a stalled $19 billion deal for 43 global ports, including two along the Panama Canal” (New York Post, June 13, 2025).
China’s Cosco Shipping Corp. has held discussions about partnering with a global consortium headed by Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte’s Terminal Investment Ltd., as well as US asset manager BlackRock and its Global Infrastructure Partners unit, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg….
President Trump had touted the sale of the ports as a national security win after demanding the US “take back” the Panama Canal and eliminate Chinese influence over the critical shipping lane.
The inclusion of Cosco and other China state-backed companies emerged as a way to nudge the deal forward after intense trade talks between US officials and their Beijing counterparts over tariffs in Switzerland last month, sources told Bloomberg.
The consortium is staring down a deadline in late July after a 145-day period for talks on the ports deal expires, and have already missed an initial goal of signing an agreement by early April.
The Post suggests that despite the recasting of the deal, BlackRock is still expected to take over the two ports near the Panama Canal. But would this be acceptable to the Chinese Communist Party?
