THE Trump Administration's pressuring of panama to sell the two container terminals at each end of the Panama Canal owned by Panama Ports Company, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong owned CK Hutchinson Holdings, to US interests, has sent ripples around the world.
In one sense it is simply another facet of the ongoing global competition between the US and China, reports AJOT.
However, Panama, with its outsized influence on global affairs due to the strategic role of the Panama Canal, is now caught in the middle of the China-US rivalry. But beyond the obvious struggle between the two powers for influence over the Panama Canal, how will this competition impact other Latin American nations - is this a Latin American policy dry run for the Trump Administration's 'America First' foreign policy or something else altogether?
It is hard to think of Panama without thinking of the Panama Canal.
The country has an US$87.3 billion economy which makes it the 12th largest economy in Latin America and the Caribbean. Even more impressively Panama has a 2025 projected per capita GDP of $20,092 which ranks around third for the region.
Much of this economic success is due to the Panama Canal. It is estimated that the canal accounts for an estimated 10-12 per cent of the country's overall GDP. And the revenue has been indispensable to the country. For example, even in FY 2023 during the drought period, the revenue was $4.968 billion and contributed a whopping $2.545 billion directly to the Panama treasury.
But the Panama Canal has had its share of challenges. On the one hand the canal has had to expand to keep up with the increasing size of vessels. The canal also has been plagued by ongoing periods of low water, the result of droughts, which strangles capacity.
The importance of the Panama Canal to US commerce is undeniable. In terms of destination and origin, the US accounted for nearly 208.8 million long tonnes of Panama Canal freight - easily making the US the number one partner.
In comparison, China was a distant number two at 64.4 million long tonnes. Although most of the attention has been focused on the movement of containerships though the waterway, the Panama Canal has been a key transit lane for petroleum products, particularly LNG carriers moving from US Gulf ports to Asia.
But aside from the commercial aspects, there is a lingering belief among some groups in the US that control over the Canal should not have been relinquished - that the strategic nature of the Canal and the investment made by the US made the Canal too valuable an asset to lose.
The pressure triggered CK Hutchinson Holdings into a sale of the company's global terminals to a consortium led by Blackrock and TiL (MSC's terminal company) for $22.8 billion. Beijing subsequently balked at the deal as many of the terminals were located in China or competing with Chinese interests.
SeaNews Turkey
In one sense it is simply another facet of the ongoing global competition between the US and China, reports AJOT.
However, Panama, with its outsized influence on global affairs due to the strategic role of the Panama Canal, is now caught in the middle of the China-US rivalry. But beyond the obvious struggle between the two powers for influence over the Panama Canal, how will this competition impact other Latin American nations - is this a Latin American policy dry run for the Trump Administration's 'America First' foreign policy or something else altogether?
It is hard to think of Panama without thinking of the Panama Canal.
The country has an US$87.3 billion economy which makes it the 12th largest economy in Latin America and the Caribbean. Even more impressively Panama has a 2025 projected per capita GDP of $20,092 which ranks around third for the region.
Much of this economic success is due to the Panama Canal. It is estimated that the canal accounts for an estimated 10-12 per cent of the country's overall GDP. And the revenue has been indispensable to the country. For example, even in FY 2023 during the drought period, the revenue was $4.968 billion and contributed a whopping $2.545 billion directly to the Panama treasury.
But the Panama Canal has had its share of challenges. On the one hand the canal has had to expand to keep up with the increasing size of vessels. The canal also has been plagued by ongoing periods of low water, the result of droughts, which strangles capacity.
The importance of the Panama Canal to US commerce is undeniable. In terms of destination and origin, the US accounted for nearly 208.8 million long tonnes of Panama Canal freight - easily making the US the number one partner.
In comparison, China was a distant number two at 64.4 million long tonnes. Although most of the attention has been focused on the movement of containerships though the waterway, the Panama Canal has been a key transit lane for petroleum products, particularly LNG carriers moving from US Gulf ports to Asia.
But aside from the commercial aspects, there is a lingering belief among some groups in the US that control over the Canal should not have been relinquished - that the strategic nature of the Canal and the investment made by the US made the Canal too valuable an asset to lose.
The pressure triggered CK Hutchinson Holdings into a sale of the company's global terminals to a consortium led by Blackrock and TiL (MSC's terminal company) for $22.8 billion. Beijing subsequently balked at the deal as many of the terminals were located in China or competing with Chinese interests.
SeaNews Turkey
