AP’s Rio de JaneiroIn the latest indication of growing ties between the two nations, which experts predict could pick up speed when Donald Trump comes to the White House in 2025, Brazilian President Luiz In cio Lula da Silvaon welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping for a state visit officially Wednesday at Brasilia’s Alvorada Palace.
In 2009, China surpassed the United States as Brazil’s largest export destination. The two presidents inked 37 agreements on Wednesday covering everything from trade and tourism to agriculture, industry, science and technology, health, energy, culture, and education. Since then, the two countries’ trade and investment ties have grown stronger.
According to analysts, that is indicative of a larger trend. Perhaps the most obvious indication of Latin America’s reorientation was last week when Xi opened a $1.3 billion megaport in Peru.
The United States and the European Union have historically overlooked Latin America. Who covers that gap? China, according to Flavia Loss, a professor of international relations at Sao Paulo’s Foundation School of Sociology and Politics.
This closeness is already being accelerated by Donald Trump’s win. We can plainly see it happening right now, live,” she continued.
China’s President Xi Jinping, left, and Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, pose for photos after signing bi-lateral agreements at the Alvorada palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
Associated Press/Eraldo Peres photo
More than a year has passed since Lula’s journey to China, during which he sought to improve relations with China’s largest trading partner following a difficult time under his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.
Eduardo, a legislator and Bolsonaro’s son, came under heavy fire for accusing the Chinese Communist Party of causing the COVID-19 outbreak and calling the massive Chinese tech corporation Huawei guilty of espionage. China had no ambassador in Brazil for eight months in 2022.
Lula has adopted a different position. His plan to reestablish Brazil on the international scene after a period of isolation under Bolsonaro, who had little interest in world affairs, also includes mending ties with China.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Lula emphasized the cooperation between China and Brazil within the BRICS group of developing countries and the United Nations, saying that what the two countries achieve together has an impact on the entire globe.
China and Brazil, according to Xi, are trustworthy allies with a common future and constructive forces that advance peace.
According to a statement released by Brazil’s presidential palace on November 13, trade between the two nations totaled $136.3 billion between January and October of 2024.
Bilateral trade has increased by more than 17 times since President Lula’s first visit to China in 2004. Eduardo Saboia, secretary for Asia and the Pacific at the ministry of foreign affairs, stated in the statement that exports to China exceeded the total of our sales to the US and the EU.
Brazil has been under pressure from China to join the Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, which began as a scheme for Chinese businesses to construct energy, transportation, and other infrastructure globally.
Although initially wary, Brazil has given the concept some thought and is looking for partners in areas like funding adaption measures and limiting human-caused climate change, according to Pedro Brites, a China expert at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a Sao Paulo university and think tank.
However, as this state visit demonstrates, Brazil has been able to reach good agreements with China without joining, so I’m not sure if the benefit is still worth it in Brazil’s eyes, he continued.
Trump’s return to the White House would bring China and Brazil closer together, but Brites warned that the South American country might pay a price if it follows Chinese leadership too closely, generating tensions with Washington and European countries.
“I think there will be a limit,” he continued, “but Brazil will maintain its rapprochement and bargain to a certain extent.”
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Didi Tang, a writer for the Associated Press in Washington, D.C., contributed.
The Associated Press, 2024. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. It is prohibited to publish, broadcast, rewrite, or redistribute this content without authorization.
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