(Bloomberg) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and Peruvian counterpart Dina Boluarte inaugurated a $1.3 billion port that could transform South American trade with Asia just as Beijing prepares for a potential trade war with the US.
The two leaders officially opened the facility during an event at Government Palace in Lima that featured a video link to Chancay port some 60 kilometers (37 miles) to the north. Xi, who is in Peru to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, said the facility will establish a direct line from Chancay to Shanghai, reduce shipping times and lower logistics costs.
Ministers from both countries also signed a slew of agreements including upgrading a free-trade pact, boosting investment and strengthening cooperation under China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Xi is using his trip to the APEC forum and then Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro to portray himself as a champion of globalization in the face of President-elect Donald Trump’s protectionist approach to trade. The Chinese president is leading a delegation of about 400 people, including the minsters of finance and commerce, and businesspeople from more than 50 companies.
While campaigning, Trump threatened to slap tariffs of as much as 60% on Chinese goods, a level that Bloomberg Economics says will decimate trade between the world’s biggest economies. That’s on top of export controls on shipments of advanced tech to China that were put in place under President Joe Biden.
Chancay port has worried American officials, who openly criticize Chinese investments in Latin America that dwarf those of US firms.
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