BlackRock (BLK) CEO Larry Fink is notching some early wins in the new Trump era.
The latest came Tuesday when the world’s largest money manager announced that a BlackRock-led investment coalition would take control of two key ports on either end of the Panama Canal for the price of $22.8 billion.
The move essentially gives President Trump something he asked for — a larger American presence at this vital shipping lane where he had alleged Chinese interference.
The ports being picked up by BlackRock are owned by Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holding. The canal itself is still controlled by Panama, which still needs to sign off on the BlackRock-led purchase.
Fink himself reached out to the White House, according to a report by Bloomberg, after Trump said of the canal on his first day as president that he wanted to “take it back.”
He argued to the White House, according to Bloomberg, that there would be no need to forcibly take the ports if BlackRock were to arrange a purchase on its own.
Trump referenced the deal during his address to Congress on Tuesday night and reiterated that “my administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal” and “taking it back.”
BlackRock has taken other recent steps that also happen to align with the preferences of the new Trump administration.
It recently removed all references to DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) from its annual report. It also told employees in a memo that it was ending workplace representation goals and would no longer require hiring managers to interview a diverse pool of candidates.
The memo from Fink and other BlackRock executives stated that the changes were the result of “significant changes to the US legal and policy environment related to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) that apply to many companies, including BlackRock,” according to a report by Bloomberg.
Trump has made it clear he wants companies to scrap their DEI policies. An executive order he signed on his first day in office ended federal DEI programs and instructed US agencies to “combat illegal private sector DEI actions.”
Fink has long navigated changing Washington, D.C., policies through several administrations of both parties.
In recent years his company became a target of GOP attacks about “woke” investing, with Republicans raising concerns about whether BlackRock’s massive holdings in US corporations force companies to adopt environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards.
Fink has in the past used his annual letter to call for corporations to play an active role in increasing diversity in their workforces.
