NEW YORK] Panama’s comptroller general asked its Supreme Court to review the government’s contract extension with CK Hutchison’s local ports unit, potentially throwing a new wrench into the conglomerate’s deal to sell its global terminals business.

CK Hutchison Holdings is in talks with a BlackRock-led consortium to include a strategic investor from China to push ahead with its plans to sell ports on either end of the Panama Canal.

T wo ports, one at either end of the Panama canal, have become a battlefront in the power struggle between China and America. Both countries view them as vital to their trading and security interests.