A BRIDGE TO DEVELOPMENT? CHANGES IN LATIN AMERICA'S TRADE WITH THE UNITED STATES AND CHINA

This text analyzes the impact of China's emergence on Latin America's trade relations with the United States. To this end, it examines the foreign trade of the six largest economies in the region: Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Peru, in relation to the two powers mentioned above. It is argued that, although the growing trade relations with China may help to mitigate the historical dependence of Latin American countries on the United States economy, in the absence of a development strategy of their own, they tend to deepen a passive profile of international insertion based on the traditional comparative advantages offered by natural resources and/or cheap labor.