China’s groei verdeelt Latijns-Amerika

Alex E. Fernandez Jilberto and Barbara Hogenboom survey the impact of China's emergence on the economy of Latin America. The rise of China as the world's fourth largest market has forced Latin America to rapidly reform its economic and political relations with China. Since its accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001 China has become a useful partner of the pro-South agenda of countries like Brazil. The economies of many South American states benefit from the increasing Chinese demand for commodities, as well as from Chinese investments. In addition, the resulting economic growth and diversification supports South American initiatives such as the Banco del Sur that weaken the influence of the Washington Consensus in the region. In contrast, Central American countries and Mexico have little to export to China whereas they heavily suffer from Chinese competition in their internal markets, but most of all in their main export market, i.e. the United States. As China's growth tends to bring about a division between benefiting countries in South America and the negatively affected countries of Central America and Mexico the possibilities for regional development based on integration of Latin America as a whole are likely to remain limited.