China Isn’t Giving Up On Latin America Just Yet

China is courting Latin America in a challenge to increased U.S. focus on the region under the Trump administration, The New York Times reported Monday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will host Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Beijing starting Tuesday, along with various leaders from the Caribbean and Latin America, the NYT reported Monday. As the U.S. is making an effort to more closely monitor and advance its policy interests in South and Central America, China is also attempting to make overtures to solidify influence in the region.

“Lula sees China as a partner in rebalancing global power, not just a trade partner but a geopolitical counterweight to U.S. hegemony,”Matias Spektor, professor of politics and international relations at Fundação Getulio Vargas University in Brazil, told the NYT.

The meetings are expected to focus on Latin America’s tentative trade relations with a U.S. more inclined to utilize tariffs to protect its own industry at the expense of other nations.

Lula, an avowed leftist, ousted former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro in the 2023 presidential election. After Lula took office, Brazilian authorities indicted Bolsonaro on money laundering and criminal association