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Posted on 04/16/2026 10:28:22 AM PDT by delta7
April 15 (Reuters) - China has told Danish shipping group Maersk (MAERSKb.CO), opens new tab and Switzerland-based Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC Shipping) to cease operating ports on the Panama Canal, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. In a meeting with China's state planner last month, Maersk and MSC Shipping were told to withdraw from the Balboa and Cristóbal ports immediately, the report said, citing two people familiar with the talks. Maersk and MSC were told not to "engage in illegal activities that harm the interests of Chinese companies, and to uphold commercial ethics and international rules," the report said. Panama has granted temporary 18-month concessions to keep the terminals operating, with APM Terminals, a unit of Maersk, managing Balboa and TIL Panama, a unit of MSC, handling Cristobal. CK Hutchison (0001.HK), opens new tab has faced heavy criticism from China since unveiling a plan in March 2025 to sell 43 ports in 23 countries, including the Balboa and Cristóbal ports, to a group led by BlackRock (BLK.N), opens new tab and Italian Gianluigi Aponte's family-run shipping firm MSC.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
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Thanks, Carter
Trump could ban Cosco, the big Chinese shipper, from US ports. This isn’t hard.
I will help, from a noted market analyst:
“Due to the illegal confiscation of CK Holdings Port Lease in Panama. China is gonna make Panama a backwater.
8 out of 10 global containers are going to originate or be delivered in China.
They have all the cards.”
From the cardholder perspective, Ukraine has no cards, Russia holds the cards, and now we see China dealt a full house...
Haha, nice try Chyna.
Thanks, Carter
Just for fun...how would Kamala handle this, had she won the presidency?
The rest of the report:
“Earlier this year, the Panamanian government forcibly stripped Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (CKH), owned by Li Ka-shing, of its port concession. Subsequently, Maersk and MSC were granted temporary operating rights.
Last month, Chinese officials summoned representatives of the two European companies, demanding their immediate withdrawal from port operations and warning them to “not engage in illegal activities that harm the interests of Chinese enterprises and to uphold business ethics and international rules.” On the same day, the two companies were also warned that they needed to maintain supply chain stability in the context of a US-Israeli war with Iran that could disrupt supply chains.
The US has been trying to strengthen its influence over the canal, while China wants to defend Chinese companies’ investments in this strategic waterway. As multinational giants, Maersk and MSC should have considered the consequences when they took over the temporary concession for the Panama Canal, instead of making excuses that it was simply to keep trade through the Panama Canal (it’s clear to everyone that this was all part of a pre-arranged US plan).
A month after the Panamanian government illegally took over two container terminals and seized their assets, CK Hutchison’s Panama Ports Company issued a statement saying its losses were escalating and it had increased its claim in international arbitration to over $2 billion.
As the world’s largest trading nation, China is one of Maersk and MSC’s most important markets. China can easily restrain Maersk and MSC through measures such as warnings, anti-monopoly investigations, and market access restrictions. The United States, in order to expel Chinese companies from Panamanian ports and other ports worldwide, is coordinating with multinational capital and shipping giants, forming a global strategy to restrict and squeeze China’s trade and transportation (in line with the US government’s control strategy for oil and other energy supplies).
Therefore, China has no choice but to take measures to protect its interests, warning multinational companies to ensure reliable and secure shipping routes, ports, and energy supplies, reduce dependence on foreign countries, and expand cross-border land transportation.”
Looks like a Chinese checkmate.
Or Maersk and MCS could offer COSCO a face-saving minor role at the Panama port concessions, and let Washington and Brussels make clear to Beijing that retaliating against Maersk and MSC over legally-held concessions will have consequences.
That triangulates the pressure back onto China without Maersk or MSC having to fight the battle themselves.
See comment #9 above.
"Illegally" is China's and Hutchison's "opinion."
A sovereign nation's Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of its own law, and that ruling is final and not subject to appeal. By definition, what Panama did was lawful under Panamanian law.
Maersk is Danish. Was the Panama Canal deal talked about during the Greenland discussions?
China moves a pawn.
Matters little. In the end, the Panama Canal will no longer be controlled by the West. China isn’t playing by western “ rules”, nor is much of the globe.
Not good for President Trump. I do believe Trump will find an effective “counter” in line with his North American Trump doctrine. Time will tell.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
He and Hegseth have been pursuing a shift in military strategy to “hemispheric defense”. Thus Panama Canal is of vital importance and I think you’re right about Trump’s response. This is also “why Greenland”.
Your analysis is quite poor.
If China wants to not have its products sold and traded, it becomes a “self-own.”
China had all sorts of problems with just tariffs being added to its products. Imagine if countries can't get Chinese products because China can't get them out, now.
This helps hasten a reduction in the use of Chinese products.
bttt
Yes, this kind of strategic power, crony-capitalist, arm-twisting, China-first policy is indeed China's game, and has been for 40 years since its "opening."
It didn't matter decades ago when the Chinese economy was small, but it sure as hell matters now.
Trump, to his credit, understands this game, has forced most of Washington DC to recognize it (some still resist), and also has only just begin to get the USA to play by similar rules.
She would have never gone after Iran in the first place. She would have let them get a nuke. Then when they nuked us, she would blame it on Trump of course.
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