China to Compete with U.S. to Expand Influence in Latin America

The U.S. intends to dominate Latin America. That became clear following the weekend’s operation to remove Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from power. But the U.S. has competition.

China is ramping up imports of Latin American crops as it “pivots away from U.S. farmers” following Trump’s tariff hikes, Investigate Midwest reported. (Photo: China COSCO Shipping)

China is expanding its influence in the region, offering itself as an alternative to governments wary of American power, Joel Mathis wrote in an analysis for The Week US.

China is Venezuela’s “largest creditor and biggest oil customer,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

That status is part of a broader push into Latin America, in which Beijing has “displaced the U.S. as the biggest trading partner” for a number of countries.

The challenge to U.S. regional preeminence is becoming clearer: A state television program depicted a “wargame simulation” showing Chinese forces confronting Western troops “around Cuba and Mexico.”

The U.S.-China competition in the region has “only just begun,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in an analysis.

Beijing’s economic power is taking center stage. China is ramping up imports of Latin American crops as it “pivots away from U.S. farmers” following Trump’s tariff hikes, Investigate Midwest reported.

Brazil has “stepped in as China’s biggest supplier of soybeans,” while China is building “ports, railways, roads, bridges, metro lines,” and other infrastructure in countries such as Peru to cement economic ties, said Henry Ziemer of CSIS.

“These are long-term projects.” China’s Latin America strategy is “alarming,” Jianli Yang wrote in National Review.

A new Chinese strategy paper portrays Beijing as a “champion of the Global South,” in contrast to what it calls American “bullying,” though its intentions are not purely altruistic.

China aims to “impose opportunity costs” on Washington by forcing the U.S. to “devote greater attention and resources to its own hemisphere” rather than Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region. U.S. leaders must craft a smart response or “risk strategic overextension.”

Others are less alarmed. Washington’s “obsession” with China’s moves in Latin America reflects a “familiar hysteria,” Leon Hadar wrote in Asia Times. Beijing’s activities may not “actually threaten core American interests” in the region.

China’s trade with Latin America has “increased tenfold” over the past 20 years, but that growth largely reflects China’s “massive demand for agricultural goods and minerals.”

That, Hadar argued, is basic economics — “not a geopolitical conspiracy.”