On May 12, representatives of the governments of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC, which includes 33 countries of the region) and the Chinese government met in Beijing, China. The purpose of the meeting, according to Chinese Secretary of State Wang Yi, was to develop a roadmap for expanding trade between his government and the CELAC countries: “It will be an opportunity to reflect on the valuable experiences of a decade of mutual benefit and equality to chart the [trade] course for the next 10 years.”
Thus, cooperation between China and Latin American and Caribbean countries is expected to improve and develop further. In several countries in that region, China has emerged as the main economic partner, which has caused some tension with the United States.
Lula, Petro, Boric, and other heads of state are in Beijing
Several Latin American heads of state traveled to China to participate in the summit. One of them is Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, who said at a press conference, “China is currently Brazil’s main trading partner, and possibly the largest recipient of products produced by our country.”
Gustavo Petro, President of Colombia and current President pro tempore of CELAC, said during a visit to the Great Wall that he hopes his country can join the so-called New Silk Road, an ambitious intercontinental trade network that is part of Beijing’s structural economic and trade plans. Regarding a photograph taken of President Xi Jinping and several Latin American leaders, Petro said “This photo seeks to revive multilateralism, for Europe to gain independence, for the Slavic peoples to speak directly to each other, for bombs not to fall on Gaza but food, that the main objective of humanity today is not war but to decarbonize the economy to live.”
For his part, Cuban Secretary of State Bruno Rodriguez affirmed during the China-CELAC summit that the trade war between China and the United States is part of a plan of Washington that, among other things, endangers Chinese investment in several countries that have development projects with Beijing. “We take advantage of this space to recognize the efforts of the Chinese government, especially its initiatives of the Silk Road and for Global Development and the CELAC-China Cooperation Plan 2022-2024,” said Rodriguez on X.
Gabriel Boric, President of Chile, was also present at the summit and stated: “It is an honor to participate in the China-CELAC Forum in Beijing, a space that renews the dialogue between the political community of Latin American, Caribbean countries and the People’s Republic of China. The path of cooperation with China is a great opportunity to move forward from a perspective of equality, mutual benefit, and shared development.”
China and Latin America: An increasingly important trade relationship
According to a BBC report, the exchange of goods between China and Latin America exceeded USD 480 billion in 2023, which implies a portentous advance considering that during the first years of the 21st century, the trade exchange did not exceed USD 14 billion.
Apart from Brazil, with which China exchanges goods worth more than USD 181 billion, Chile has turned its economic interest towards the Asian country, becoming its main trading partner; according to some estimates, goods worth USD 43 billion are traded between the two countries. Thanks to the new mega-port built in Peru, China has become a fundamental economic partner in the Pacific (including countries such as Colombia and Ecuador).
In the case of the Caribbean countries, China is already the second largest trading partner, ahead of the European Union and only behind the United States. The main export products to China are soybeans, minerals, oil, copper cathodes, and beef. For its part, China, which expects to increase its trade with the region by 30% by 2026, exports mainly manufactured products to Latin America.
Taking all this into account, China is seeking to become an even more influential player in the Americas, an aspiration which has already alarmed the United States and its economic interests in the region. The Americas are poised to become a strategic battleground in the ongoing trade dispute between Beijing and Washington, which may be in a moment of truce, but is far from a lasting peace.
