RE:A new Chinese hub for copper exports. Reuters interviewed two dozen officials, business leaders and trade experts, along with an analysis of ten years of trade data, revealing how China's infrastructure spending is cementing its role as the key trade and investment partner for South America, defying an economic slowdown at home and U.S. warnings about debt trap diplomacy.
Part of the shift is pragmatic. Fast-growing China needs the copper and lithium from South America's Andes, along with the corn and soy from the plains of Argentina and Brazil.