A Panama court has agreed to review the concession granted to a Hong Kong-based firm to operate ports on either end of the Panama Canal — the source of US President Donald Trump’s concerns for Chinese influence over the waterway.
The Supreme Court has agreed to consider a request filed by a lawyer to nullify the contract to CK Hutchison Holdings, owned by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, Panama’s judicial branch said in a statement.
A subsidiary of CK Hutchison manages two of the canal’s five ports, an arrangement in place since 1997 via a concession from the Panama government.
The latest lawsuit will consider the “automatic extension” of concession rights until 2047, according to court documents.
This is the second challenge to the contract after two other lawyers filed a similar case earlier this month, claiming the concession was unconstitutional.
Panama Ports Company — a CK Hutchison Holdings subsidiary — manages the ports of Cristobal on the canal’s Atlantic side and Balboa on the Pacific side.
That arrangement was automatically renewed in 2021.
The legal challenge comes after Trump threatened to take back the canal — built by the United States and handed over to Panama in 1999 — claiming China was effectively “operating” the vital waterway.
But temperatures have lowered since US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent visit to the Central American country, with President Jose Raul Mulino announcing Panama will not renew participation in China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Following Trump’s charges, Panama also announced it would audit the Panama Ports Company.
CK Hutchison Holdings is one of Hong Kong’s largest conglomerates, spanning finance, retail, infrastructure, telecoms and logistics.