Geopolitics · Latin America
—The stakes. China is locking in financial and trade infrastructure in Latin America while Washington presses governments to reduce the relationship.
—The Argentina deal. Buenos Aires renewed a 130 billion yuan PBOC swap line on 5 August 2026, extending the term from three years to five and keeping a roughly US$18.6 billion backstop.
—The Chancay milestone. Peru’s Chinese-backed port passed 502,646 TEUs and 2.4 million tons of cargo by June 2026, some nineteen months after operations began.
—The trade shift. Chancay handled 62 percent of Peru’s agricultural exports to China between January and September 2026, plus US$1.59 billion in two-way goods trade.
