By: Staff Writer
May 16, 2025
China’s President Xi Jinping on Tuesday pledged $9.18 billion to Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries at the China-CELAC Forum and Ministerial meeting.
China is trying to keep its LAC allies close as the Trump administration labels it as a threat to American control of the Western Hemisphere.
Just last week, Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, played host to several Caribbean leaders in an effort to discuss several matters important to the US and primary of which was the perceived growing influence of China in the region.
However, just this past Tuesday, China will disburse 66 billion yuan ($9.18 billion) in credit to the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States’ (CELAC) members, Xi told delegates from around 30 nations gathered in Beijing for the three-yearly China-CELAC Forum Ministerial Meeting.
“China and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are important members of the Global South. Independence is our glorious tradition, development and revitalisation our natural right, and fairness and justice our common pursuit,” Xi said.
China’s influence in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is growing through a combination of economic, political, and diplomatic engagement. This influence is particularly noticeable in trade, investment, and infrastructure development, as China seeks to expand its role as a partner and alternative to traditional Western powers.
In 2000, the Chinese market accounted for less than 2 percent of LAC’s exports, but China’s rapid growth and resulting demand drove the region’s subsequent commodities boom.
Over the next eight years, trade grew at an average annual rate of 31 percent. By 2021, trade exceeded a record $450 billion, according to the Chinese government, and some economists predict that it could exceed $700 billion by 2035.
China currently ranks as South America’s top trading partner and the second largest for Latin America as a whole, after the United States.