Panama informed the government in Beijing of its formal withdrawal from China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) program, the country's President Jose Raul Mulino said on Thursday.

Mulino told reporters that Panama informed China of its decision not to renew the treaty and gave it a 90-day notice of withdrawal, according to Agence France Presse (AFP).

Previously, Mulino announced that his country would withdraw from the BRI deal after meeting with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Their meeting came after US President Donald Trump repeatedly stated that China controlled the Panama Canal and threatened to take it back under US control.