Trump scores strategic win as Panama court ousts Hong Kong firm from canal ports

A Panamanian tribunal has voided a larboard declaration held by a Hong Kong subsidiary, prompting assurances from President José Raúl Mulino that canal postulation volition not beryllium disrupted.

The tribunal ruled Thursday that the larboard concession granted to Panama Ports Company — a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings — was unconstitutional. The determination was welcomed by the U.S. and criticized by Beijing, according to The Associated Press.

"Beijing plays rough. Trump plays rougher," China adept Gordon Chang told Fox News Digital successful an email. "The American president conscionable showed the Chinese who's brag successful the Western Hemisphere."

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Aerial presumption of the larboard of Rodman successful Panama City taken connected January 30, 2026.  (MARTIN BERNETTI / AFP via Getty Images)

"President Trump, by extracting Nicolas Maduro and his woman from Caracas, ended Chinese power successful Venezuela," Chang added. "With the termination of the Hutchison larboard concessions successful Panama, countries are getting the connection that Trump is determined to thrust China retired of the portion and that they should get connected committee with the American president."

Mulino said Friday that larboard operations astatine some ends of the canal volition proceed arsenic the ruling is carried out, adding that Panama’s Maritime Authority volition enactment with Panama Ports Company to support the ports running, AP reported.

Once the concession is formally terminated, Mulino said a section subsidiary of Danish shipping elephantine A.P. Moller-Maersk volition temporarily run the ports portion the authorities opens a caller bidding process for a semipermanent concession.

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Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino waves earlier giving a code astatine his swearing-in ceremonial astatine the Atlapa Convention Centre successful Panama City, connected July 1, 2024.  (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

The tribunal determination followed an audit by Panama’s comptroller that identified irregularities successful a 25-year hold of the concession granted successful 2021, according to AP.

The ruling aligns with long-standing U.S. concerns implicit China’s beingness adjacent the Panama Canal. 

Limiting Beijing’s power successful the portion has been a precedence of the Trump administration, and Panama was the archetypal overseas halt this twelvemonth for U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, AP reported.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio appears earlier the Senate Foreign Relations Committee connected Jan. 28, 2026. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

"The United States is encouraged by the caller Panamanian Supreme Court’s determination to regularisation larboard concessions to China unconstitutional," Rubio posted to X connected Friday.

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Panama Ports Company said it has not been formally notified of the ruling and argued it lacks ineligible basis, informing it could harm thousands of Panamanian families and undermine ineligible certainty. The Hong Kong authorities besides rejected the ruling, according to AP.