A worker of the Chilean Huachipato steel company waves a Chilean flag outside La Moneda presidential palace to protest the company’s upcoming closure, in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, April 9, 2024. Workers blame the closure on the importation of cheaper steel from China and want the government to raise import taxes. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix) Doing business with China poses a high risk for Latin America. Examples range from maritime harassment over Panama and threats to port sovereignty in Peru to debt traps in Ecuador. Despite this, China’s policy of commercial coercion has been shaken to its foundations following the arrival of the new Monroe Doctrine.
In Central America, Beijing controls 10 percent of Nicaragua through gold mining concessions. The Ortega-Murillo regime, which is now abolishing elections, has expanded gold mining across protected indigenous and afro-descendant lands without environmental or international standards. His communist regime has devastated his nation’s natural resources, polluted rivers, destroyed forests and wiped-out rich ecosystems.
Similar practices were in place in Bolivia, but everything changed in 2025 following the end of 20 years of socialism and the arrival of a new leadership, committed to freedom and open markets. The Constitutional Court of Bolivia has undertaken a review of a civil action filed by indigenous communities regarding preferential lithium contracts with China.
In Argentina, allegations of dumping practices have been raised regarding Chinese wind turbine towers. The government launched an investigation because the communist companies compete using artificially reduced prices to displace the domestic sector.
Brazil’s steel industry has also warned of a risk of collapse due to Chinese imports. In late 2025, the sector faced a crisis driven by record steel imports from China, which impacted local production, jobs and investments. Steel production fell by 2.2 percent. The South American giant has had to impose anti-dumping measures against China, despite the two nations’ ideological closeness.
In Peru, Beijing has consistently sought to secure preeminence, control and preferential treatment regarding ports and mining projects. The U.S. has said that cheap Chinese money comes at the cost of one’s sovereignty.
The government of Lima has also imposed five-year antidumping duties over Chinese steel products to halt an influx that was driving local producers out of business. Once again, the communist model is in action: They flood local markets with low prices, displace local production and — once they have gained control — set and dictate prices to suit their own interests.
Beijing’s acts of commercial harassment against Panama have been denounced on many occasions. The communist power has intensified arbitrary detentions of Panama-flagged vessels under the pretext of conducting routine inspections.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has condemned Beijing’s retaliation. He said China’s actions against Panama “destabilizes supply chains, raises costs, and erodes confidence in the global trading system,” and the U.S. “stands with Panama against any retaliatory actions against its sovereignty.”
In Ecuador, China has implemented a debt-trap model, a complete lack of project oversight and the plundering of sovereign natural resources. The Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant stands as a textbook example of authoritarianism and failed projects.
Experts have reported that illegal fishing by Chinese fleets in the Pacific Ocean extends into the exclusive zones of Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Argentina, resulting in commercial, environmental and labor-related damage.
In Guatemala, China’s commercial bullying is brutal. Xi Jinping refuses to accept that this Central American nation maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Trade blockades and barriers serve as the communist giant’s primary weapons.
Thanks to the influence of the new U.S. administration, Latin America has begun to respond to China. Even Mexico has announced 50 percent tariffs on imports from China and other countries.
Bolivia has imposed controls on China’s zinc mining operations. Chile has frozen a proposed submarine cable project. Peru has opted for U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets rather than Beijing’s JF-17s. The U.S. has helped halt Chinese space projects in Chile and Argentina, citing the threat of their potential for both civil and military use.
In Latin America, at least a dozen countries have shifted toward free-market economies, closer to the U.S. and firm in their stance against China. There is still a long way to go, but the new Monroe Doctrine appears to be doing its job.
Arturo McFields is an exiled journalist, former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States, and a former member of the Norwegian Peace Corps. He is an alumnus of the National Defense University’s Security and Defense Seminar and the Harvard Leadership course.
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