Most of the stakes in key ports on the Panama Canal are owned by a Hong Kong-based company and are set to be sold off after Trump announced his waterway plans.

U.S. President Donald Trump has hailed a deal led by U.S. firm BlackRock to buy most of the $22.8 billion ports business of Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison , including assets it holds along the Panama Canal.

Trump and his team are right to recognize Panama’s strategic importance, but they are wrong in how they are approaching the issue. During his inaugural address in January, President Trump proclaimed that “China is operating the Panama Canal” and promised that the United States would be “taking it back.

A group of investors led by BlackRock is to acquire the two strategic ports of Cristobal and Balboa in the Panama Canal for more than 22 billion dollars. "My administration is going to take back the Panama Canal,