Panama’s government on Monday began an audit of a Hong Kong company that operates ports at either end of its canal, after US President Donald Trump warned he wanted to take back the waterway over alleged Chinese influence.
In his inauguration speech on Monday, Trump repeated criticisms he made in recent weeks about the Panama Canal, which handles about 3 per cent of global seaborne trade each year.
In response, Panama’s Office of the Comptroller General published a video on social media platform X of about 10 men and women in suits filing off a bus into the local offices of Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports to begin an audit, in a move seen as a nod to Trump.