A Hong Kong-based conglomerate has agreed to sell its controlling stake in a subsidiary that operates ports on either end of the Panama Canal to a consortium including BlackRock Inc., effectively putting the ports under American control after President Donald Trump alleged Chinese interference with the waterway.

In a filing, CK Hutchison Holding said Tuesday that it would sell all shares in Hutchison Port Holdings and in Hutchison Port Group Holdings to the consortium in a deal valued at nearly $23 billion, including $5 billion in debt.

The U.S.-led consortium, made up of BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners and Terminal Investment, will acquire 90% interests in Panama Ports Co., which owns and operates the ports of Balboa and Cristobal in Panama, according to the filing.

In January, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, raised concerns that China could exploit or block passage through the canal and that the ports “give China ready observation posts” to take action.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Panama in early February and told President José Raúl Mulino that Panama had to reduce Chinese influence over the canal or face potential retaliation from the United States. Mulino rejected the idea that China had any control over canal operations, but Panama quit China’s Belt and Road Initiative following Rubio’s visit.

But while much attention was focused on Trump’s threat to retake control of the canal, his administration trained its sights on Hutchison Ports, the Hong Kong-based consortium that manages the key ports at either end of the canal.

Hutchison Ports had recently been awarded a 25-year, no-bid extension to run the ports, but an audit looking at that extension was already underway. Observers believed the audit was a preliminary step toward eventually rebidding the contract, but rumors had swirled in recent weeks that a U.S. firm close to the White House was being lined up to take over.