New York | A BlackRock-led consortium agreed to buy control of key ports near the Panama Canal from Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings after pressure from US President Donald Trump to limit Chinese interests in the region.
The deal is a major victory for Trump, who had argued without evidence that China had taken over the critical waterway and that the US was paying too much for the passage of ships. He previously demanded that the fees charged on US naval and merchant ships to be lowered, or else Panama should return the canal to the US.
