By Zoila Palma: China’s engagement with Latin America is entering a new and more complex phase, marked by a shift from massive infrastructure lending to tightly focused, strategic investments, AQ reports.
For more than 30 years, Beijing has shaped regional trade through large-scale investment in natural resources while exporting everything from low-cost manufactured goods to advanced technology and cloud infrastructure.
Trade between China and Latin America reached $518.47 billion in 2024, yet recent data shows a significant pullback in the scale of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the region, which received barely 1% of global BRI construction spending in the first half of 2025.
This recalibration reflects China’s slowing domestic economy, a pivot toward high-tech industrial policy, and intensifying geopolitical rivalry with the United States.
Beijing is concentrating on sectors that support its long-term technological ambitions—electric vehicles, renewable energy, telecommunications, critical minerals, and digital finance. At the same time, traditional Chinese lending has fallen sharply.
But experts warn that China’s new strategy carries significant risks for Latin America.
Beijing’s growing dominance in critical sectors like EV manufacturing, lithium processing, and telecommunications raises concerns about overdependence on a single global power.
Chinese companies are embedding themselves in vital supply chains for green technology, increasing the possibility of long-term economic leverage. At the local level, China’s decentralized engagement—through partnerships with provincial governments, universities, and state-owned enterprises—allows it to build influence deep inside national institutions, sometimes bypassing national oversight.
Critics note that similar arrangements in Africa and Asia have, in some cases, led to asymmetrical control over key infrastructure and sensitive data systems.
Economic risks are also mounting.
China’s push to export high-tech goods and shed industrial overcapacity has triggered defensive policies in several Latin American nations.
Mexico, Chile, and Brazil have imposed tariffs on Chinese steel, EVs, or other industrial products, citing threats to local industries and unfair competition.
Analysts warn that China’s ability to flood markets with cheaper goods could undermine domestic manufacturing, distort trade balances, and limit the region’s ability to develop its own high-value industries.
The post International News: Growing risks in China’s strategic engagement with Latin America appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Zoila Palma: China’s engagement with Latin America is entering a new and more complex phase, marked by a shift from massive infrastructure lending to tightly focused, strategic investments, AQ reports. For more than 30 years, Beijing has shaped regional trade through large-scale investment in natural resources while exporting everything from low-cost manufactured goods to
The post International News: Growing risks in China’s strategic engagement with Latin America appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
