China in Latin America: November 2024

APEC: From November 15 to 16, leaders from around the world descended on Lima, Peru, for the 2024 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden. During the summit, Peru and China updated their free trade agreement (FTA) and inaugurated the $3.6 billion Chinese-funded and Chinese-built Port of Chancay. Peru also hosted Xi for an official state visit.

The upgraded FTA is expected to boost bilateral commerce between the two countries by at least 50 percent, while the Chancay port is expected to cut trans-Pacific transit times, decrease logistics costs, and provide trade benefits to other South American countries. Xi described the Port of Chancay as a starting point for a new maritime-land corridor between Beijing and Latin America. Earlier in the month, China and Peru also signed memoranda of understanding (MOUs) to boost bilateral cooperation on food security, food product regulation, and education.

During the APEC Summit, Xi met with Chilean President Gabriel Boric. The two leaders agreed to increase cooperation on infrastructure, clean energy, information technology, and communications.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Xi’s trips to Peru and Brazil for the APEC and Group of Twenty (G20) summits and his presence at the inauguration of the Port of Chancay represent what some analysts have deemed China’s economic marginalization of the United States in Latin America.

G20: On November 18 and 19, Brazil hosted Xi and other world leaders for the annual G20 Leaders’ Summit. During the summit, Xi met with several Latin American leaders, including Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Bolivian President Luis Arce, Argentine President Javier Milei, and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (“Lula”).

During Xi’s meeting with Sheinbaum, the Chinese leader expressed his desire to deepen cooperation with Mexico. In Xi’s bilateral with Arce, the Bolivian president sought new Chinese investment in mining, lithium industrialization, and other projects. Milei promised to increase trade between Argentina and China after his meeting with the Chinese leader.

After the G20 summit, Xi stayed in Brazil for an official state visit. During the visit, he and Lula signed thirty-seven bilateral agreements on trade, technology, and the environment. Xi described the meeting as “another historic moment in the development of China-Brazil relations” and said China was ready to make the two countries “golden partners.”

Xi is eager to strengthen ties with Brazil, despite Lula’s Chief Advisor Celso Amorim’s announcement that Brazil declined to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and would instead pursue smaller bilateral deals where China and Brazil have “synergies.” In one of the thirty-seven bilateral agreements, Brazil “recognized the relevance” of the BRI. The two countries are also expected to sign new farm agreements that will potentially cover fruit, beef, and pork.

Electric Vehicles and Automobiles: Chinese electric vehicle firms are increasingly turning their attention to Latin America as a market for their vehicles, according to the Wall Street Journal. BYD President of Mexico Operations Ray Zou reiterated on November 5 that the company has no intention of exporting its vehicles to the United States, a concern repeatedly emphasized by President-Elect Donald Trump. Zou also emphasized that the outcome of the U.S. presidential election would not deter BYD’s decision to potentially build a factory in Mexico.

Trump’s Return and Sino-Latin American Relations: During his presidential campaign, Trump announced that he would impose 25 percent tariffs on China for exporting fentanyl precursor chemicals to Mexico. He also said that he would attempt to insert language into the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement during the 2026 review process that would introduce limits on products made by Chinese companies entering the United States. Trump has been critical of China allegedly using Mexico as a back door to get its goods into the U.S. market at a lower tariff rate.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said that the United States and Canada should negotiate a bilateral trade deal, cutting out Mexico, unless Mexico matches Canadian and American tariffs on Chinese imports. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland both acknowledged Canada shares U.S. concerns regarding whether Mexico is aligned with Canada and the United States on the treatment of Chinese goods. Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard rejected the characterization of Mexico as a back door for Chinese goods and stated that Mexico will be essential as the United States seeks to decouple from China.

Trump announced that Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) would be nominated for secretary of state. Rubio, a known China, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela hardliner, along with Mike Waltz, Trump’s pick for national security advisor, could increase U.S. scrutiny of China’s relations with the region.

Mauricio Claver-Carone, a key advisor on Trump’s transition team who previously served as senior director for the Western Hemisphere on the National Security Council, argued that Trump should impose 60 percent tariffs on Chinese goods or goods from South American countries that pass through the Port of Chancay. Claver-Carone believes such tariffs would help protect the United States against transshipment, where goods from China are initially exported to one country and then reexported to the United States at a lower tariff rate than direct shipments.

Other former Trump officials have been critical of the Chinese-built Peruvian port. Erik Bethel, a former U.S. representative at the World Bank during the first Trump administration, warned attendees at a conference in Miami in May, “[W]ait until the port of Chancay in Peru gets connected to Brazil. That’s going to be a wake-up call for all of us . . . If you’re not tracking that, just Google it. It’s a big deal.” Laura Richardson, the former head of U.S. Southern Command, said that the Chancay port could be a “dual-use facility,” utilized by the Chinese navy.

Trade: On November 1, El Salvador’s Minister of the Economy María Luisa Hayem announced that China and El Salvador had concluded the second round of FTA negotiations. In November, Ecuador began exporting dairy products to China, following technical negotiations on sanitary conditions. Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou reiterated his belief that Mercosur will be unable to achieve an FTA with China and that Uruguay should pursue a bilateral FTA with the country.

Claudio Vidal, the governor of Argentina’s Santa Cruz Province, inked an agreement with Hongdong Fisheries, the second-largest Chinese fishing company, to modernize port infrastructure. Brazil and China signed an agreement to construct a direct maritime route between the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area and the Port of Santana das Bocas in the state of Amapá, decreasing transport time by fourteen days.

In Brazil, Gerdau, a steelmaking firm, called on the Brazilian government to impose tariffs on Chinese steel.

Diplomacy and Meetings: On November 5, Honduran Minister of Defense and 2025 Presidential Candidate Rixi Moncada met with China’s Ambassador to Honduras Yu Bo and discussed strengthening relations between the two countries. Yu also met with Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Enrique Reina about bolstering cooperation in sports infrastructure for children. On November 14, Honduran President Xiomara Castro met with Li Hongzhong, vice chairperson of the National People’s Congress’s standing committee, during his trip to the region. The two leaders conferred about cooperation on education, energy, FTA negotiations, and agriculture projects. Li also traveled to the Dominican Republic and Panama.

Colombia’s Minister of Trade, Industry, and Tourism Luis Carlos Reyes traveled to Shanghai for the Seventh China International Import Expo, where he sought increased commercial and investment ties between Colombia and China. Representatives from other Latin American countries also attended the expo in Shanghai. Ricardo Bonilla, Colombia’s finance minister, announced that Colombia would seek to join the BRICS bank in an effort to strengthen commercial relations with Asia. China is hoping that Colombia will join the BRI in February 2025.

Brazil’s federal comptroller general, Vinícius de Carvalho, visited China to discuss his country’s cooperation with the Chinese government on governance, auditing, and transparency. De Carvalho met with China’s Justice Minister He Rong, and the two outlined their interest in establishing legal mechanisms to help accelerate investigations into transnational corruption, money laundering, currency evasion, and asset recovery.

Investments: In November, Nicaragua hosted the seventeenth China-Latin America and the Caribbean Business Summit in Managua. More than five hundred representatives from Chinese companies attended the summit. During the meeting, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega pitched the Gran Canal initiative again to China. On November 18, the Nicaraguan government and the Chinese construction engineering company China CAMC Engineering Co., Ltd. signed an engineering, procurement, and construction agreement for Bluefields Port. On November 10, Arce announced the signing of a new agreement with a Chinese company to help Bolivia industrialize its lithium sector.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro signed the investment deal with China that was ratified by the Venezuelan national assembly back in September.

Susana Muhamad, Colombia’s climate minister, said that if the United States doesn’t provide financing to aid Colombia’s plan to replace fossil-fuel exports with more green investments, the South American country could look to China.

Mie Hoejris Dahl, a Danish freelance journalist in Mexico, wrote a piece for Foreign Policy in which she explains how China has shifted its investment strategy through its flagship Belt and Road Initiative.

Debt Negotiations: On Monday, November 18, Suriname’s Finance and Planning Minister Stanley Raghoebarsing informed the Surinamese National Assembly that the government had signed a debt-restructuring agreement with China. Suriname owes around $476 million to the Export-Import Bank of China and another $68 million to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.