A group of families and children hailing from Uzbekistan, China, Afghanistan, Russia and more countries climbed down the stairs of an airplane in Costa Rica’s

Since taking office in January, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly accused the country of relinquishing control of the Panama Canal to China. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino and Beijing officials deny the claims.

Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino has told his cabinet not to discuss ‘lies’ while Beijing hit back at Donald Trump’s takeover threats.

A consortium led by U.S. private equity firm BlackRock has agreed to purchase the Panama port terminals owned by CK Hutchison of Hong Kong.

A Hong Kong-based company announced Tuesday that it would sell its stake in two ports on the Panama Canal to a U.S.-led consortium, apparently responding to threats from President

Panama maintains that it has full control over the canal and that the Hong Kong-based group’s operation of the ports did not amount to Chinese control.

BlackRock on Tuesday said it agreed to acquire two ports serving the Panama Canal from Hong Kong's CK Hutchinson, as part of a larger $22.8 billion deal. Why it matters: President Trump has threatened to retake control of the Panama Canal,

The deal comes after U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened to take control of the Panama Canal and end what he sees as China’s influence over the waterway critical to global trade.

The $23 billion deal, announced by Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings, transfers control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports to a consortium led by BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners, and Terminal Investment Limited.

Hong Kong-based conglomerate has agreed to sell shares of its units that operate two key ports in Panama to BlackRock consortium.