China has recently suffered a series of setbacks in Latin America as competition with Washington in the region heats up.
Panama recently cancelled a Hong Kong firm’s contract to run ports along its canal, while Washington’s capture of Venezuela’s former leader ousted one of Beijing’s closest regional allies.
Meanwhile Mexico, seeking closer trade alignment with Washington, imposed a 50% tariff on Chinese goods, and Bolivia scrapped a Chinese miner’s contract as it looks to deepen ties with the US.
Though Beijing “has hardly lost its footing” — it remains the region’s biggest trading partner — the moves show “that the geopolitical competition for Latin America is sharpening, and not necessarily in China’s favor,” Bloomberg’s Juan Pablo Spinetto wrote.