By Ben Norton / Geopolistic Economy Report
The Donald Trump administration has made it clear that the top priority of the US government is to weaken China and strengthen Wall Street.
Panama’s small Central American nation has found itself at the heart of Trump’s strategy.
In his inauguration speech on January 20, the US president falsely claimed that “China runs the (Panamana) Canal,” and he argued that “we are reclaiming it.” At a press conference two weeks ago, Trump hinted that if Panama refuses to give effective control to the United States, he would be willing to use his military force to take over the canal.
On March 4th, a contract was announced for a consortium led by Wall Street giant BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, to buy ports on both sides of the Panama Canal.
The Associated Press noted that the transaction “effectively places ports under US control.”
Black Rock buys the world
In his speech to the US Congress on March 4th, Donald Trump boasted.
To further strengthen our national security, my administration will reclaim the Panama Canal. And we’ve already started it.
Just today, the American big corporations announced that they would buy both ports around the Panama Canal and many other ports associated with the Panama Canal and several other canals.
Trump did not name “a large American company,” but it is BlackRock, leading a consortium that includes its subsidiary global infrastructure partners.
BlackRock is the world’s largest investment company. It managed a record $11.6 trillion in assets in the fourth quarter of 2024 (the top 500 investment managers on the planet had $128 trillion in assets at the end of 2023).
The Associated Press reports that the BlackRock-led consortium currently manages at least 43 ports in 23 countries. The Wall Street giant’s global infrastructure partner was at the heart of a US government-sponsored partnership launched by the Joe Biden administration and the G7 on Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI).
BlackRock billionaire CEO Larry Fink was invited to sit with Western heads of state at the Italian G7 Summit in 2024, where he called for a “public-private partnership” to help Wall Street businesses acquire global infrastructure, particularly in a poor, once-colonial country.
BlackRock has enjoyed very close ties with the US government, both Democrats and Republicans. Fink said that before the November 2024 US presidential election, it was “really not important” who won, as both parties benefited Wall Street.
Bloomberg reported that Fink personally called Trump and asked BlackRock to help him buy the port of the Panama Canal. The Financial Media Outlet said the billionaire CEO boasted of BlackRock’s deep connections with governments around the world, “we are increasingly the first calls.”
As Yahoo News said, “BlackRock’s Panama Canal Deal is the latest victory for Chief Ralie Fink at a strong start to the Trump era.”
A government run by Trump billionaires
The Trump administration has at least 13 billion billionaires, including the president himself.
Musk spent at least $288 million on political campaigns for Trump and other far-right Republicans in the 2024 election.
Another major donor to Trump’s 2024 campaign was Stephen Schwarzman, billionaire CEO of Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager. Schwartzman is one of the most paid executives on Wall Street. He earned $1.6 billion in salary and dividends in 2024 alone.
Blackstone is the largest landlord in the United States and owns over 300,000 residential units.
They are another financial services company, but BlackRock owns a 6.7% stake in Blackstone.
BlackRock also manages the largest Bitcoin fund on the planet. In late February, BlackRock added Bitcoin ETFs to its model portfolio. A few days later, Trump announced that his administration would create a “crypto-strategic reserve,” allowing the US government to effectively backstop Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, preventing prices from falling dramatically, thereby reducing volatility and profiting large institutional investors on Wall Street.
Targeting China, Marco Rubio is trying to impose colonial Monroe doctrine on Latin America
To run the US State Department, Donald Trump chose War Hawk Marco Rubio, a hard-line neoconservative who is closely allying with the Latin American right.
Rubio’s overseas trip as Secretary of State was in Panama, where he threatened the Central American state over his ties with China.
The Trump administration has called for the Panama government to force Hong Kong-based company CK Hutchison Holdings to sell shares in the port surrounding the canal.
Shortly after Rubio’s trip, Panama withdrew from China’s global infrastructure program, Belt and Road Initiative.
In an interview with Fox News on February 26th, Rubio and conservative host Brian Kilmeade used colonial rhetoric to call Latin America the “backyard” of the United States.
Brian Kilmeade: Have you allowed China to head to Central and South America for decades? Is Panama an example?
Marco Rubio: Yes.
Brian Kilmeade: We don’t pay enough attention to our backyard. Was that what you heard when you went there?
Marco Rubio: That’s right.
…
And after our visit, the same day I was there, Panama was in Latin America, in the Western Hemisphere, and I think it was the first country to break out of the Belt and Road Initiative.
And I think there will be more news soon about Panama, where everything is positive in (North) America.
After a trip to Panama, Secretary of State Rubio traveled to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.
The Trump administration is trying to revive the doctrine of Monroe, a 202-year-old colony that has threatened throughout Latin America and the Western Hemisphere, treating the region as a “territory of influence” for the US empire.
During Trump’s first term, several US officials evoked Monroe’s doctrine, justifying aggressive intervention and coup attempts in Latin America, including neoconservative national security adviser John Bolton and director of the CIA.
US officials frequently violate the independence and sovereignty of Latin American countries. Today, Washington essentially orders them to cut ties with China. It is the largest trading partner in the region except Mexico.
Rubio has constantly demonized China as the biggest so-called “threat” to the United States.
At a Senate confirmation hearing in January (99 out of the 100 members voted to confirm him), Rubio said (add emphasis):
China’s Communist Party is the one that leads China and is the most powerful and dangerous nearby enemy the country has ever faced. They have elements that the Soviet Union never owns. They are technical enemies, competitors, industrial, economic, geopolitical, and now scientific competitors in all areas.
It’s an extraordinary challenge. That’s what I believe to define the 21st century. When they wrote a book about the 21st century, there are several chapters about Putin. For some of these other places, there are some chapters there. But the majority of that book about the 21st century is about China, not just China, but China-US relations and what direction it has taken.
In an interview with Fox News in February, Rubio made a similar comment, doing something horrifying about China.
Brian Kilmead: You call China the most dangerous nearby enemy the US has faced.
Marco Rubio: So far!
Brian Kilmeade: So you need concrete steps to face them
Marco Rubio: Yes.
Brian Kilmeade: Someone who clearly builds their army to face us.
Marco Rubio: Yes.
Rubio argued that the US government should invest heavily in industrialization, military industry and remove China from its supply chain in order to prepare for potential future wars.
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Ben Norton
Ben Norton is a journalist, author and filmmaker. He is the founder and editor of Geopolitical Economic Reports and is based in China.
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