• President Donald Trump is celebrating a deal by investment firm BlackRock to buy up most of a Hong Kong conglomerate’s port business, including significant holdings at the Panama Canal. BlackRock and CK Hutchison announced the $19 billion deal on Tuesday, March 4.
• “Just today, a large American company announced they are buying both ports around the Panama Canal,” Trump told Congress in his joint address.
• It’s a rare public victory in conservative circles for BlackRock. Conservatives have criticized BlackRock for years for ESG investing, which directs dollars toward companies that tout environmental, social and governance policies.

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President Donald Trump touted a deal Tuesday, March 5, that puts Chinese-owned assets at the Panama Canal in the hands of an American investment firm. Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison agreed to sell large shares of its port business to investment firm BlackRock.

CK Hutchison said the deal will lead to cash in excess of $19 billion for the Hong Kong firm. The total port business is valued at $22.8 billion.

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“My administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we’ve already started doing it,” Trump said during his joint address to Congress. “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.”

The BlackRock deal includes 90% of Panama Ports Company, which owns and operates two ports at each end of the canal, Balboa and Cristobal, according to CK Hutchison.

BlackRock scores a public win

BlackRock’s chairman and CEO, Larry Fink, known to have the ear of Trump, called the president directly to pitch the idea of the $11.6 trillion investment house purchasing the ports, according to a report from Bloomberg.

Trump has been publicly bemoaning operations at the Panama Canal for months. He repeated his grievances Tuesday night to Congress.

“We didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back,” he said of the canal. “The Panama Canal was built by Americans for Americans, not for others, but others could use it. But it was built at tremendous cost of American blood and treasure. Thirty-eight thousand workers died building the Panama Canal.”

BlackRock made its deal through Global Infrastructure Partners, which owns and operates ports, airports and data centers. BlackRock bought Global Infrastructure Partners last year for nearly $13 billion. 

“This agreement is a powerful illustration of BlackRock and GIP’s combined platform and our ability to deliver differentiated investments for clients. These world-class ports facilitate global growth,” Fink said.

Conservatives often criticize BlackRock

Trump’s callout to BlackRock on a national stage is significant as the investment firm regularly catches heat from conservatives for its so-called “woke” agenda. 

BlackRock was previously part of a U.N. sponsored climate coalition and heavily invested in environmental, social and government (ESG), and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

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Those concerns led a number of Republican led states to ban pension funds from investing in BlackRock products. Meanwhile, last November, a group of 11 states led by Texas sued BlackRock and some other large asset managers, claiming they violated antitrust law through their climate initiatives. 

In recent months, BlackRock backed off those policies.