Panama City, Panama (AFP)—Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino on Wednesday accused his US counterpart Donald Trump of “lying” about Washington taking back the Panama Canal.

“Once again, President Trump is lying. The Panama Canal is not in the process of recovery,” Mulino wrote on X.

“I reject, on behalf of Panama and all Panamanians, this new affront to the truth and to our dignity as a nation,” Mulino added, after Trump said that his administration had started to take back the vital waterway.

“To further enhance our national security, my administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we’ve already started doing it,” Trump said in a speech to Congress Tuesday. “We’re taking it back.”

Under mounting pressure from Washington, Hong Kong firm Hutchison said Tuesday it had agreed to sell its lucrative Panama Canal ports to a US-led consortium.

CK Hutchison Holdings said it would offload a 90 per cent stake in the Panama Ports Company (PPC) and sell a slew of other non-Chinese ports to a group led by asset manager BlackRock.

The sellers will receive $19 billion in cash, the company said.

Hutchison subsidiary PPC has for decades run ports at Balboa and Cristobal on the Pacific and Atlantic ends of the interoceanic waterway.

But since taking office in January, Trump has complained that China controls the canal — a vital strategic asset that the United States once ran.

He has refused to rule out a military invasion of Panama to regain control, sparking angry protests and a complaint to the United Nations by the Central American nation.

Since 1999, the canal has been run by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) — an autonomous entity whose board of directors is appointed by Panama’s president and National Assembly.

The 80-kilometer (50-mile) long canal handles five percent of global maritime trade, and 40 percent of US container traffic.

Beijing has consistently denied interfering in the canal.