BlackRock Agrees to Buy Panama Canal Ports as Trump Continues Threats

BlackRock, America’s largest asset manager which handles over $11 trillion in assets, has agreed to purchase two ports on either end of the Panama Canal. BlackRock is buying the ports from Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison in a deal worth about $22.8 billion. The announcement of the deal comes as President Donald Trump has made threats against Panama over China’s involvement in the canal. The president has said the U.S. never should’ve handed over control of the canal in the 1970s after building the canal in the early 20th century. And Trump has even suggested the canal would be taken by force in necessary. Trump boasted in an address to Congress on Tuesday night that the U.S. was “reclaiming the Panama Canal,” without giving details about who was actually buying the ports there. “Just today, a large American company announced they are buying both ports around the Panama Canal and lots of other things having to do with the Panama Canal and a couple of other canals,” Trump said. The part ... Read full article.