Hanging from a ladder attached to the hull of a giant, bobbing tanker, Capt. Efraín Hallax began his climb up to the crew awaiting him atop the Athina, a ship anchored in Panama Bay and third in line to transit the Panama Canal. The daunting ascent up the shifting ship was nothing new for Captain…
A senior Panamanian official on Monday said he had uncovered evidence of misconduct by a Hong Kong company, a finding that could delay or even scuttle a ports deal that has put China at loggerheads with the United States. Last month the Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison agreed to sell a business that encompasses 43…
The bombshell publication of a group chat involving Trump administration officials discussing U.S. battle plans revealed in unusually stark fashion what the Trump administration hopes to achieve with airstrikes this month against the Houthi militia in Yemen. The attacks, some of the chat’s participants said, were meant to deter the Houthis from attacking commercial ships…
The deal had the imprint of a Hong Kong billionaire nicknamed “Superman” for his empire building. One of the tycoon’s companies, which for years has run two ports on the Panama Canal, had been thrust into a broader showdown between China and the United States. So the billionaire, Li Ka-shing, got out of the firing…
Political pressure is mounting over a plan by a Hong Kong conglomerate to sell its Panama ports to BlackRock, the American investor, raising questions about the future of the $19 billion deal. John Lee, the leader of Hong Kong, added his voice on Tuesday to escalating warnings from China, saying the transaction deserved “serious attention.”…
An investment group led by BlackRock, a giant American asset manager, has agreed to buy two ports in Panama that are owned by a Hong Kong company and that have become the subject of tensions between Panama and the Trump administration. BlackRock will buy the ports, which sit at either end of the Panama Canal,…
Western allies of the United States gathered in Munich this past week, anxious, adrift and despairing in the face of President Trump’s brute display of muscle-flexing on the global stage. But it was people not at the table at the Munich Security Conference who have become most marginalized in Mr. Trump’s world. Palestinians and Afghans,…
President Trump’s claim that China controls the Panama Canal has placed a Hong Kong tycoon and his conglomerate at the heart of a showdown between the United States and China. That sprawling company, CK Hutchison Holdings, is one of Hong Kong’s most valuable publicly listed firms and counts some of the world’s biggest investors as…
Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to escalate the Trump administration’s confrontation with Panama on Sunday, telling its leader that President Trump had determined that Chinese “influence and control” over the Panama Canal threatens the waterway and demanding “immediate changes,” according to the State Department. Panama’s president, José Raúl Mulino, provided a different account of…
As Secretary of State Marco Rubio begins his first overseas trip on Saturday in Panama, Central American countries are largely reeling under the weight of President Trump’s confrontational approach, including threats of military force to reclaim the Panama Canal and coercing nations into accepting military planes filled with deported migrants. The visit comes during a…