The transaction has drawn fierce criticism from influential Chinese political offices, including the mainland’s Liaison Office.

The country’s top auditor said CK Hutchison owes the government $300 million, posing a hurdle to a plan touted by Trump to bring the ports under U.S. control.

Donald Trump, since returning to power in January, has vowed to 'take back' control of the strategic waterway that the United States funded, built and controlled until 1999.

Panama promotes itself “as the bridge of the world, heart of the universe” but lately the narrow Central American Isthmus and its namesake canal that joins the Atlantic to the Pacific have become the setting for a bitter clash between the world’s two preeminent economic superpowers.

Panama and the US appear to have agreed to let American warships use the Panama Canal, effectively for free. Panama's strategic value-- to the US and many other shipping nations-- is thanks to its 51- mile canal,

The Chinese government is accusing the U.S. of “blackmail” after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared Beijing a threat to the Panama Canal, asserting that Washington along with Panama