US Secretary of State Discussed Panama Canal-Related Audit with Panamanian Minister Acha.  BlackRock Comments Included

April 4 Panama:  U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau pictured above, discussed on Friday with Panama’s Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha, below, the importance of an ongoing audit of Hutchison’s management of concessions of two ports at either end of the Panama Canal, the State Department said in a readout of their conversation.  Though the canal itself is operated by Panama, the two ports on either side are run by publicly listed Hong Kong company CK Hutchinson while other ports nearby are operated by private companies from the United States, Singapore and Taiwan.  Christopher Landau was sworn in as the 23rd Deputy Secretary of State on March 25, 2025. Deputy Secretary Landau served as United States Ambassador to Mexico from 2019 to 2021 during President Trump’s first administration. 

Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martinez Acha

Larry Fink of BlackRock, pictured below, is playing the long game.  With a little time, a possible nudge from President Trump and some on-the-ground lobbying of his contacts in mainland China, BlackRock’s billionaire boss believes he will win approval from the Mainland’s apparatchiks to take control of the Panama Canal.  Specifically, Fink is looking to close a $23 billion deal with Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison to buy 43 ports worldwide — including the two ports that are strategically located on the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the Panama Canal.  Until recently, most people didn’t know much about CK Hutchison, which is headed by the mercurial, 96-year-old billionaire Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong’s richest tycoon. That was until The Donald began talking up the strategic importance of the Panama Canal, one of the busiest waterways for global trade because it easily connects both oceans through a 51-mile deep-water runway. Hutchison holds long-term leases there and at dozens of others including on the Suez Canal.