Chinese President Xi Jinping declared on Tuesday his “support” for Latin American and Caribbean countries to “refuse external interference” and “to follow a path of development according to their national conditions.”

“China supports the nations of the region to defend their national sovereignty and independence,” the president said during his opening speech at the IV China-Celac Meeting of Ministers.

The meeting in Beijing is attended by foreign ministers and representatives of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) and, in an unprecedented way, the presidents of Brazil, Chile and Colombia, the latter country that exercises the rotating presidency of the bloc.

According to the Chinese leader, his country and those of Latin America and the Caribbean are “important members of the Global South” and that they must “remain united in the face of growing geopolitical tensions, confrontations between blocs” and the “growing currents of unilateralism and protectionism”.

“We will work with the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to firmly safeguard the international system and speak with one voice in international and regional affairs,” he stressed.

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CEL

“Development and revitalization are our inherent rights, and equity and justice are our common aspirations” in the face of “geopolitical turbulence and confrontation,” said Xi, who highlighted the joint work “to practice true multilateralism, safeguarding equity and international justice and promote the reform of the global governance system to promote multipolarity.”

The president recalled that last year the trade volume between China and the region exceeded 500 billion dollars for the first time and said that his country wants to continue developing mutual support with Latin America and the Caribbean on issues that affect their “main interests and concerns”.

Thus, he said that his country will provide credits to the region worth 9 billion dollars and will strengthen cooperation in security and law enforcement.

“We must strengthen exchanges in the various areas and strengthen communication and coordination on international and regional issues of importance,” said Xi, who announced that in the next three years Beijing will annually invite 300 leaders of political parties from the CELAC member countries to visit China to “exchange experiences on governance”.

After the inauguration, Xi will offer a lunch to the attendees, which will be followed by the plenary session of the meeting, which will be held behind closed doors and will end with the adoption of a joint statement.

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CEL

The main topics of the meeting will be ‘Electrical Interconnection and Renewable Energies’ and ‘Trade Integration’, two headings that align with two key objectives of China in Latin America: to promote its New Silk Roads (BRI) initiative and ensure access to valuable natural resources in the region such as lithium, rare earths, oil or copper.

The Chinese president declared that “intimidating and arrogant practices only serve to isolate himself” in his first statements after the tariff reduction agreement reached between his country and the United States to stop the trade war.

Xi insisted during his inaugural speech at the IV Ministerial Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) that “there are no winners in a trade war”, a day after Washington and Beijing announced a truce that includes the reduction to 30% and 10% of the levies.

“Faced with a situation of multiple intertwined risks, only through solidarity and cooperation can peace and global stability be protected,” said the Chinese president in the presence of the presidents of Brazil, Chile and Colombia, who attend the meeting.

The statements come after China and the United States closed an agreement in Switzerland to reduce their mutual tariffs by 115% for 90 days, a step seen as the beginning of a process to repair their trade differences.

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CEL

The United States agreed to reduce its tariffs for Chinese products from 145% to 30%, while China agreed to lower them to 10% compared to the 125% that was in force.

This reduction will come into force next Wednesday, May 14, and in principle for a period of 90 days, in which both countries will try to resolve other outstanding issues of their economic and trade relations.

Likewise, US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the relationship with China is “very good” and assured that he would talk to his counterpart Xi, “perhaps at the end of the week.”

The United States seeks to promote foreign direct investment at a time of optimism, driven by the will of Donald Trump’s Government to generate jobs in manufacturing and other sectors. One of the main challenges pointed out by regional representatives is the large-scale supply of energy.

“Thanks to the Trump Administration, our flow of possible (investment) agreements is greater today than it has ever been,” Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves said categorically at the SelectUSA investment summit, an event that usually attracts more than 5,000 participants and that this year local authorities face with special enthusiasm to the policies of the federal government.

“It is obvious that we are not going to achieve all those investment contracts, but I think that our economy will continue to thrive in the current panorama,” added Reeves, who leads a state that concentrates plants of companies such as Toyota, Rolls Royce or Airbus and who wants to attract capital from new sectors, such as data centers.

Although Trump has applied tariff pressures to encourage foreign investment, several multinational executives highlighted the “good time” to invest in the US, both for regulatory agility and for the protection of intellectual property.

Siemens CEO Barbara Humpton said the country is experiencing a “vibrant era,” highlighting government initiatives in technology, artificial intelligence and high-speed rail. Siemens has focused recent investments in the manufacture of trains in North Carolina and electrical equipment in Texas and California, essential for data centers.

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CEL

The high energy demand of these servers represents a great challenge, especially for the state of Virginia, the largest data center hub in the world.

“The demand for energy will not decrease, but quite the opposite,” said its Secretary of Commerce, Juan Pablo Segura, who highlighted initiatives such as the development of new generation nuclear reactors.

“We want that reactor to be operating by 2030, and with our current regulatory framework I think we can achieve it,” he added.

One of the great objectives of the Trump Administration in terms of energy is to make a plan that has been developing for years and that has encountered obstacles in terms of economic viability, to build a pipeline that allows to supply from Alaska 20 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) each year to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam or Thailand.

The idea is to transport natural gas from North Slope, the northernmost region of the United States, to the port of Nikiski, from where it would be liquefied and sent by ship to Asia in a journey of about 8-9 days, almost four times less than what it takes to arrive the Texas LNG that the US sells to this region of the world.

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CEL

The problem is that the construction of a gas pipeline almost 1,300 kilometers long in such a remote area has been estimated at about 44 billion dollars (about 39,641 million euros).

In any case, the governor of Alaska, Mike Dunleavy, believes that given the current scenario, the gas could already be “flowing” in 2028, as he said on the opening day of this summit that concludes on Wednesday.

“Tariffs and trade have changed the equation,” he admitted regarding the reluctance shown so far by the major buyers of US LNG in the region, Japan and South Korea, two countries whose economy depends in turn greatly on what they export to the US and that are negotiating these days so that Trump’s threat to impose tariffs of 24% and 25%, respectively, does not come true.

US Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (Florida) met with the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, who “has liberated” the Central American country “from the deadly clutches of terrorism,” Luna said on Monday in a message on the social network X.

The congresswoman published today on her X account photographs where she is seen with the Salvadoran president, without specifying if the meeting was this Monday.

Luna, who is also the president of a group called the Caucus of El Salvador made up of several American Republican congressmen, wrote: “I saw it with my own eyes: President Bukele has really freed El Salvador from the deadly clutches of violent criminal terrorists and has returned hope to the people.”

“As President of @SAL_Caucus (Caucus), I feel honored to accompany you in the struggle to achieve lasting peace and justice in this beautiful country. Both the United States and El Salvador appreciate your brave leadership @nayibbukele,” he added.

The Caucus of El Salvador was formed in July last year shortly after Matt Gaetz and other Republican congressmen visited El Salvador for Bukele’s inauguration on June 1, 2024, according to the local press.

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CEL

Last April, several Democratic congressmen visited El Salvador for the case of Kilmar Ábrego García, the Salvadoran migrant expelled from the United States for an “administrative error” and who is imprisoned in a Salvadoran prison.

These congressmen, including Chris Van Hollen, sought to meet with President Bukele, but they did not get it.