President Trump has won a major victory over China in Panama after the their highest court invalidated a Chinese-linked company’s control over key strategic ports, ruling the agreement allowing their operation of these ports unconstitutional.
Here’s more from the New York Post:
Panama’s highest court has voided the contract of a Chinese-linked company that operated key ports at the Panama Canal — handing the Trump administration a major victory in its push to curb China’s influence over the strategic waterway.
Panama’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the long-standing port concession held by a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison was unconstitutional, stripping the company of its legal right to operate the ports of Balboa and Cristóbal.
The affected terminals — Balboa on the Pacific side and Cristóbal on the Atlantic — sit at the physical entrances to the canal, making them among the most strategically sensitive commercial assets in global shipping.
In 1997, Panama granted a long-term concession to Panama Ports Company, a CK Hutchison subsidiary, to operate the two ports as the canal transitioned from US to Panamanian control ahead of the 1999 handover.
Friday’s ruling invalidated not only the original concession but also subsequent extensions, citing constitutional and procedural defects.
President Trump has repeatedly warned that the US would not tolerate what he described as creeping Chinese influence over the Panama Canal, framing control of canal-adjacent infrastructure as a core national-security issue.
Trump publicly criticized Panama for allowing CK Hutchison to operate ports in the waterway, arguing that the arrangement threatened US strategic interests in the Western Hemisphere.
Trump has been moving at break-neck speed to end both Russia and China’s influence in our hemisphere, from the Arctic all the way down to Panama, and he’s not stopping. Cuba appears to be next on the list.