RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Wednesday welcomed China’s President Xi Jinping for a state visit at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, the latest sign of deepening ties between the two countries that analysts say may accelerate as Donald Trump returns to the White House in 2025. China overtook the U.S.
as Brazil’s biggest export market in 2009. Since then, the links between the two nations have strengthened in trade and investment — and on Wednesday the two leaders signed 37 agreements in areas ranging from trade and tourism to agriculture, industry, science and technology, health, energy, culture and education. That reflects a broader trend, experts said.
Last week, Xi inaugurated a $1.3 billion megaport in Peru, perhaps the clearest sign of Latin America’s reorientation. “Latin America has always been forgotten by the United States and the European Union.
Who fills that void? China,” said Flavia Loss, an international relations professor at Foundation School of Sociology and Politics in Sao Paulo. “Donald Trump’s election is already accelerating this proximity. We’re clearly seeing it happening now, live,” she added.
The state visit by the Chinese leader comes more than a year after Lula visited China seeking to strengthen ties and mend relations with its biggest trade partner after a rocky period under his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro’s lawmaker son Eduardo blamed the COVID-19 pandemic on the Chinese.