The Battle of Trade for Latin America
The Battle of Trade for Latin America
AS/COA’s Eric Farnsworth suggests that there is no “head-to-head race for influence” between the U.S. and China as they seek to strengthen trade ties with their Latin American partners.
Chinese president Xi Jinping begins a tour of Latin America today. First stop, the Caribbean island of Trinidad. His visit comes on the heels of Vice President Biden’s tour of the region. Biden just signed a renewable energy agreement with Trinidad. So what can China offer?
Trinidad is one of the world’s leading producers of natural gas. The U.S. used to buy a lot of it from Trinidad, until we tapped our own reserves.
“Trinidad now needs to find global markets for its primary commodity,” says Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas. “China’s hungry for energy and it makes a lot of sense to talk to the Trinidadians about perhaps developing that energy relationship.”
Leaders from the U.S. and China down-play their competition.
“I don’t think either of them see themselves in a head-to-head race for influence in the region necessarily,” Farnsworth says....
