President Donald Trump wants the Panama Canal back. However, he might be walking into his own version of the Cuban missile crisis. Amid the heated exchanges between the United States and Panamanian presidents, the diplomatic twist that hasn’t been reported is that Chinese state-owned entities COSCO and China Merchants are reportedly trying to buy a 20% stake in Hutchison Ports, the Hong Kong company operating the terminals at either end of the canal that are the subject of the dispute.

The seller of the 20% stake is PSA International, the port company of Singapore. COSCO tried to buy PSA’s share in 2023, but PSA put the sale on hold because it thought the price, $4 billion, was too low. Late last year, PSA reportedly resumed the sale, supposedly asking for $5.4 billion.