China's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) reposted a commentary criticising CK Hutchison's port deal with U.S. firm BlackRock as a betrayal of China, sending shares of the Hong Kong-based conglomerate sharply lower on Friday.

China’s top office on Hong Kong affairs has reposted an attack on CK Hutchison’s decision to sell its Panama Canal ports, amplifying a Beijing-backed newspaper’s warnings for the Li Ka-shing-owned conglomerate to “think twice” about which side it stands on.

Trump threatened to take back the canal because of what he called Chinese influence. CK Hutchison, a Hong Kong company, is selling its control in a firm that ran two ports on the canal.