As US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping descend in Lima, Peru for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, some attendees are getting déjà vu from 2016.
Obama’s delegation arrived facing an uncertain future, as there were only so many assurances the former President could give on the heels of Trump’s first win. Biden is now facing a similar situation, where rather than confidently promising continued collaboration, he will be forced to take a “wait-and-see” attitude as Xi, in a visual contrast of strength, inaugurates a $1.3b megaport.
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China’s influence in Latin America has been a growing cause for concern in the US since the launch of the global infrastructure project the Belt and Road Initiative.
The country’s trade with the region has exploded since the early 2000s and nearly reached $500bn in the past few years, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Its biggest infrastructure project so far is the $1.3b Chancay megaport in Peru which is expected to become a major shipping hub for trade. The Chinese shipping company Cosco has a 60% stake in the project developed alongside Peruvian mining company Volcan.
“With this port, we’re looking at the entire Pacific coast, from the United States and Canada all the way to Chile […] The shipping business is being transformed,” Emer Schialer, Peru’s Foreign Minister, told Associated Press recently.
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By GlobalDataMany US officials have expressed concern over the port, warning that it could pose a threat to national security as it could potentially be used by China’s navy. The Chinese government has dismissed these allegations.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said China was “working to exploit insecurity in our hemisphere,” this week. He added that the country was using the need for investment in the continent to push forward their “malign agenda.”
However, the direction of Trump’s foreign investment policy is firm on keeping capital within American borders.
One of his first actions during his first term was to pull the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement between Pacific Rim economies which at the time covered 40% of the world’s economy.
Biden then launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework in 2022. However, on the campaign trail Trump warned that he would once again pull the US out of the international trade partnership if he won the presidency, as he did in 2017 with the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
On one hand, a weakened US presence in the region gives China space to grow its already strong economic ties with the continent. If some of the US’s worst fears on this front are realized, there could be a Chinese military presence in America’s backyard.
Trump’s appointment, however, does not put China in a position of strength. The threat of 60% tariffs on Chinese imports could mean further trouble for China’s sluggish economy.
