The criticism of the deal, including the sale of assets near the Panama Canal to a BlackRock-led consortium, will sharpen the scrutiny of a possible sale of the U.S. assets of TikTok, owned by Chinese firm ByteDance. U.S. President Donald Trump, who previously criticized what he perceived as Chinese control of the Panama Canal, hailed the deal, terming it the “reclaiming” of the canal within hours of the transaction’s announcement on March 4. A week after that news, China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office reposted two commentaries criticizing CK Hutchison and saying the sale was a betrayal of China that neglected national interests. Chinese regulators, under the instructions of central leadership, have begun looking into the deal, a sign of Beijing’s discontent with CK Hutchison’s divestment under perceived U.S. pressure. The heavy politicization of the CK Hutchison deal and the sale of TikTok’s U.S. business are set to cast a long shadow over deals involving Chinese and American companies amid growing tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Beijing’s ultimate decision on whether to complicate the port transaction or others like the TikTok deal will likely hinge on its assessment of whether a trade deal with the Trump administration remains viable, said Patricia M. Kim, a U.S.-China relations expert and a fellow at the Brookings Institution. Popular short-video app TikTok, meanwhile, facing shutdown in the United States next month if Chinese owner ByteDance does not find a U.S. buyer, must grapple with concerns about its autonomy from ByteDance and the Chinese government. In the TikTok sale process, the White House is playing an unprecedented role – acting as an investment bank, with Vice President JD Vance running the auction. This marks a significant increase in government intervention in private business matters. — news from Reuters