America should seize the moment, strengthen partnerships in Latin America 

As China’s malign influence continues to grow around the globe, it is vital that the U.S. foster our strategic partnerships in our own backyard to move our strategic supply chains out of China and into this hemisphere.

In recent years, several Latin American governments have seen a dramatic shift in leadership, electing leaders whose values align more closely with our own here at home. Our improved ties with these nations will act as a crucial counterbalance to China, promoting promote our national and economic security.

Then again, if we do not act now, we run the risk of ceding our dominance in the Western Hemisphere to one of our biggest adversaries.

China has been actively expanding its influence in Latin America through massive investments in infrastructure, trade agreements and development projects in recent decades. In fact, China’s trade with Latin America has ballooned over 3,000 percent, rising from $12 billion in 2000 to $450 billion in 2022. As a result, China has eclipsed the U.S. as the region’s top economic partner. And with greater financial ties, China’s political influence in the region grows each day.  

As China works to entrap these nations with debt and boondoggle infrastructure investments, the U.S. should pursue mutually beneficial economic relationships in the region. While the U.S. is committed to promoting freedom, development and democracy, China focuses on extracting resources and cozying up to and abetting bad actors like Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. U.S. trade policy must reward countries in the region whose leaders push for change that aligns with our values and not communist China’s.  

There is more work to be done to support American leadership and promote high-standard investment in the region. That is why the Ways and Means Committee recently passed legislation to renew the Generalized System of Preferences with significant reforms, including new eligibility criteria that require participating countries to treat U.S. agriculture exports fairly and exclude nations with growing military and economic ties with China.

These reforms are common-sense and designed to foster relationships with good-faith economic partners, while countering China’s influence in the Western Hemisphere and throughout the world. We hope Democrats in the House and Senate will work with us to enact this legislation into law soon.

At home, U.S. domestic supply chains have become far too reliant on imports from China. Any nation that relies on an adversary for critical imports, such as medicine and food, is no longer independent but politically dependent. That is why it is so important for Congress to utilize every tool at our disposal to re-shore these supply chains into the Western Hemisphere by holding China accountable for its unfair trade practices.

For example, Chinese companies have abused trade enforcement measures and gamed customs laws to escape U.S. tariffs by utilizing the de minimis exception. This has denied both American and Western Hemisphere companies the ability to benefit from President Trump’s crackdown on China’s unfair trade. That is why we are pushing for legislation to fix these abuses and help re-shore manufacturing and jobs into the Western Hemisphere. Our philosophy is simple: We must build, supply and manufacture what we can here at home, and what we can’t needs to be moved into ally nations closer to home. 

Additionally, the U.S. must explore expanding and strengthening our existing agreements in Latin America to open new markets to American-made products. The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement can serve as an important template to streamline and standardize cross-border investment and certainty within the region.  

During official visits to the region in recent years, Latin American leaders have made clear to us that they would prefer to work with the U.S. as opposed to communist China. We must show that we are with them in both words and deeds. Strong relationships with Latin American countries hold strategic importance for the U.S. With a targeted strategy to deepen partnerships with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, we can mitigate China’s expanding footprint and maintain our own strategic interests in the Western Hemisphere. 

Jason Smith represents Missouri’s 8th District and is chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Maria Salazar represents Florida’s 27th District and is a chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.