DP World, an operator of ports from Algeria to Peru, is optimistic about growth in emerging markets, undeterred by US President Donald Trump’s pursuit of protectionist trade policies.
The Dubai-controlled company’s chairman said he expects growth in Latin America, Asia and Africa.
“We see some good times,” Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem told reporters on a conference call yesterday.
Emerging markets and developing economies are projected to expand by 4.5% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), compared with an average global growth rate of 3.4%. DP World, one of the world’s largest port operators, will spend $1.2bn this year, adding capacity at its flagship Jebel Ali port in Dubai and in ports in China, Senegal, Somaliland, Canada and the UK.
It will also expand in Ecuador, where it won a 50-year concession last year to develop a port in the country’s south-west, bin Sulayem said.
Earlier the company reported a 27.6% increase in full year profit to $1.13bn for 2016.
Bin Sulayem said he did not believe Trump’s protectionist policies would affect trade.
“He’s trying really to balance the trade with other countries. He wants other countries to open their markets,” he said.
DP World operates ports in China and Canada, two countries targeted by Trump’s vow to make steep changes to US trade policy.
Trump, who has pulled the US out of a 12-nation trade pact that includes many Latin American countries, has said he will renegotiate a multilateral trade deal with Mexico and Canada and threatened to impose tariffs on Chinese imports.
DP World, which was forced to sell US port assets in 2006, is open to re-entering the US market, he said, adding that there are no immediate plans.




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