"Protectionism with racist tinge" (#96; Topic B)

About a month ago, Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., a public company registered inUK, agreed to be acquired by Dubai Ports World, a private company owned by the government of Dubai, a member of the United Arab Emirates, for $6.8 billion. Since assets to be transferred include selected berths in six US ports in eastern USA, the deal needed governmental approval -- and 12 different agencies all said ok. But, just 10 days before its scheduled closing (3/2), this secret deal was leaked, and, suddenly, the Congress demanded review of the deal's "security implications," and a congresswoman sent a "hell no!" letter to the president. This prompted the Financial Times (2/21) to editorialize: "The bluster about national security conceals one of the uglier faces of U.S. protectionism -- the one with the slightly racist tinge." Dubai's Gulf News (2/23) came to a similar conclusion: "It must be realized that, Americans, in general, are protectionists by nature." From Washington Post, I learned that, over the years, among thousands of similar governmental reviews, only one deal was rejected -- but Post did not reveal its identity. I asked myself: Which one could this be? I know it is not CNOOC's proposed takeover of Unocal last year. (Though Unocal's oil reserves are mainly in the South China Sea, Congress nevertheless gave "national security" as the reason, and demanded a 90-day review period; facing this antagonism, CNOOC simply withdrew.) I now know, from an incidental mention in an ed-op piece in today's New York Times, that that rejected deal involved Global Crossing, also in maritime transport business, selling to Hutchinson Whampoa, a Hong Kong company. This rejection was, of course, held in secret -- until now. So, thanks, P&O; thanks, DPW -- we now know something we did not know before.
Posted 9:00 pm, Saturday, February 25, 2006