A Hong Kong conglomerate that had agreed to sell its two ports at the Panama Canal said Monday it may seek a Chinese investor to join a consortium of buyers, a move that could please Beijing but bring more U.S. scrutiny to the geopolitically fraught deal, the Associated Press reported. CK Hutchison Holdings’ initial plan to sell port assets in dozens of countries to a group that includes U.S. investment firm BlackRock Inc. pleased U.S. President Donald Trump, who has alleged that China interferes with the critical shipping lane’s operations in Panama.

China’s government is threatening to block a deal that would transfer ownership of dozens of seaports to Western investors if Cosco, China’s largest shipping company, doesn’t get a stake, the Wall Street Journal reported. The proposed sale includes two ports at the Panama Canal and more than 40 others around the world, all owned by Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison. China is pushing for state-owned Cosco to be an equal partner and shareholder of the ports with BlackRock and Mediterranean Shipping Co., a containership operator.

A subsidiary of a Hong Kong conglomerate that is embroiled in U.S.-China tensions over its Panama Canal port assets denied allegations Wednesday that it had failed to pay about $1.2 billion to the Central American country, the Associated Press reported. Panama’s comptroller authority announced on Monday that an audit of Panama Ports Company found irregularities in the renewal of a 25-year port concession in the interoceanic canal. The authority's accusations came the same day as U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's arrival in the country to participate in a security conference.

Panama’s top auditor said Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison owes hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid fees and failed to get necessary clearances for two key Panama Canal ports, dealing a blow to plans by U.S. asset manager BlackRock to buy the ports as part of a $22.8 billion transaction, the Wall Street Journal reported. BlackRock’s acquisition of the ports situated at each end of the Panama Canal, along with some 40 other ports around the world, has become a flashpoint between the U.S. and China as the two superpowers are also squaring off in an escalating trade war.

The U.S. State Department said on Friday it was "not surprised" that China would be upset by Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison's deal to sell its two port operations near the Panama Canal to a BlackRock-led group, after China's market regulator said it would conduct an antitrust review of the deal, Reuters reported. "We are aware of the comments made by China.

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, the New York Times reported.

The Chinese government has strongly criticized a planned deal by a Hong Kong conglomerate to sell ports in Panama and elsewhere to an investment group led by an American asset manager, warning that the deal would deprive China of needed influence over key shipping routes, the New York Times reported. The criticism marks an abrupt shift in Chinese policy toward Panama and the control of seaports around the world. When President Donald Trump raised concerns soon after taking office that China had too much power in the Panama Canal, his comments were initially ridiculed by Beijing.

Panama’s president accused Donald Trump of lying to congress after the US leader reiterated his intention to take over the Panama canal, Bloomberg News reported. Trump told lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday that Panama had broken the agreements it made when it took over the waterway a quarter century ago. “Once again, President Trump lies,” President Jose Raul Mulino said in a post on X.

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, the New York Times reported.

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino on Thursday denied the State Department’s claim that his country had agreed to allow U.S. government vessels to transit the Panama Canal for free, the Wall Street Journal reported. “I am incredibly surprised by yesterday’s statement,” Mulino told a news conference in Panama City. “They’re making an important, institutional statement from the entity that governs U.S. foreign policy…based on a falsity.