China’s two-way trade with countries in the Americas increased 8% last year to $486 billion, nearly twice the volume of what China does in Africa. South America is now a vital source of food, energy, and strategic minerals for China, while markets like Brazil are attracting record amounts of Chinese investment.
Meantime, China’s growing presence in Latin America and the Caribbean region is also making the U.S. increasingly uncomfortable given that many people in Washington, D.C. still believe that the Western hemisphere remains America’s traditional sphere of influence.
