China slowly undercutting US influence in Latin America with 5 ‘new factor’ trade deals
- Beijing has made progress over trade deals with Ecuador, Uruguay, Panama, Colombia and Nicaragua, having already penned agreements with Chile, Costa Rica and Peru
- The US is seen to have ‘effectively lost its key role with every country south of Costa Rica’ having counted much of Central and South America as political allies
China stands to secure prized natural resources while vying with the United States for allies through five potential new trade deals with countries in Latin America, which was once mainly a US backyard, analysts believe.
Officials from Beijing kicked off talks with Ecuador in June, the government’s trade ministry said, and South American media reports point to Uruguay pursuing its own trade agreement with China – despite blowback from the Mercosur or Southern Common Market negotiating bloc to which it belongs with the likes of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
A deal with Panama is “under negotiation”, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce website, and China is conducting a joint feasibility study toward a pact with Colombia. China and Nicaragua last month signed an “early harvest arrangement” for a free-trade deal, the ministry said.
Chile, Costa Rica and Peru have already signed trade deals with China, starting from Chile in 2005, with the pacts potentially offering a reduction in import tariffs while also opening key sectors to the other country’s investment.
China’s presence in the region in the new century is perhaps the most significant new factor in Latin America’s international political economy in its two centuries of independent history
“China’s presence in the region in the new century is perhaps the most significant new factor in Latin America’s international political economy in its two centuries of independent history,” said Jorge Heine, author and a former Chilean ambassador to China.