U.S. Warns Peru China Port Ruling Risks Its Sovereignty

The Trump administration’s State Department warned Wednesday that Peru could "be powerless" to oversee the new $1.3 billion Chinese‑funded deepwater port at Chancay after a Jan. 29 lower‑court ruling stripped the national port regulator Ositran of its authority to regulate, supervise or sanction the project. In a blunt social‑media statement, the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs called Chancay’s Chinese owners "predatory" and said Peru’s situation should be a "cautionary tale" that "cheap Chinese money costs sovereignty," underscoring Washington’s concern about Beijing’s Belt and Road foothold in Latin American critical infrastructure. Cosco Shipping, China’s state‑owned majority shareholder in the port, rejected the U.S. characterization, insisting the ruling "in no way involves aspects of sovereignty" and that the port remains fully under Peruvian jurisdiction and subject to multiple Peruvian agencies. Ositran’s president Verónica Zambrano said the agency will appeal, arguing there is no justification for exempting Cosco from oversight when it operates 180 hectares of Peruvian territory and provides public services like any other port. The dispute turns Chancay — planned as Latin America’s deepest port capable of hosting the world’s largest cargo ships on Asia–South America routes — into a flashpoint in U.S.–China competition over who shapes and ultimately controls key maritime infrastructure in the Western Hemisphere.