China’s Unprecedented Investment Offensive in Latin America

The United States is paralyzed by partisan divide, particularly over the Trans-Pacific Partnership that could boost trade with Asia. Meanwhile, China continues to build trade ties, including “an unprecedented investment offensive in South America,” as described by Juan de Onis for World Affairs Journal. Li Keqiang, China’s premier, signed 35 bilateral agreements with Brazil totaling $53 billion this month. “But the most ambitious agreement of all was a joint venture in which the Chinese offered to finance completion of a transcontinental railroad from Brazil’s Atlantic seaboard to a new port on the Pacific coast of Peru,” de Onis writes. “For Peru and other Pacific coast countries, like Chile, this railroad over the Andes to Brazil would be a major step toward regional integration, a collective dream that has escaped South America since its 19th-century independence.” Henry M. Paulson, a former US treasury secretary, argues that the US cannot hope to compete with China in Asia and instead urges cooperation. Trade and investment in Latin America could be an area for partnership that’s could also help resolve global challenges like climate change and financial instability. –YaleGlobal