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.

The agreement will give a BlackRock consortium a majority stake in two terminal ports. Trump has said he wants the trade route under US control.

Donald Trump promised on Day 1 to seize the Panama Canal. “We’re taking it back,” the US president declared in his inaugural address. Within weeks, Wall Street billionaire Larry Fink was on the line with the White House.