A Hong Kong-based company has agreed to sell most of its stake in two key ports on the Panama Canal to a group led by US investment company BlackRock.The sale comes after weeks of complaining by President Donald Trump that the canal is under Chinese control and that the US should take control of the major shipping route.

Trump threatened to take back the canal because of what he called Chinese influence. CK Hutchison, a Hong Kong company, is selling its control in a firm that ran two ports on the canal.

China called the new plan for American investment firm Blackrock to buy two ports in the Panama Canal from a Hong Kong-based company "spineless groveling" and "a betrayal." The nearly $23 billion deal was considered a way to assuage concerns from president trump that China is quote "running" the canal.