OBELA Analysis

Mexico is the second-largest economy in Latin America. It has a deep-rooted relationship with the United States through the T-MEC, now affected by the U.S. announcement of unilateral tariffs. It benefits from preferential access to the U.S. market, which has allowed it to export manufactured goods, automobiles, and agricultural products at the cost of importing all the inputs from China to export these products to the North. In the context of the trade war between Washington and the Red Dragon, the tariffs against Mexico prevent Chinese brand products manufactured in the country from entering its market without tariffs. The Aztec country has sought to diversify its relations by exploring trade agreements with other countries and strengthening Asian investment in strategic sectors for domestic purposes. Given the growing importance of the Asian giant in the country, Washington has pressured its southern neighbour to take measures against China, both in terms of tariffs and investment restrictions, considering them a possible risk to U.S. national security. Such policies limit Mexican growth and productive diversification. This article analyses the presence of the Asian giant in trade and investments in the Aztec country and the limits to this relationship due to its alignment with its northern neighbour.

For two decades, China has been transforming its domestic financial architecture into a part of the new international financial architecture, opening the door to a new global order. China's issuance of sovereign bonds in 2024 in Dubai is a significant development. It challenges the narrative that China wants to de-dollarise the world. In its place, it introduces a new order in which the dollar plays a different role. The fact that the U.S. has held the top currency position allowed them to finance their huge deficits despite their poor macroeconomic data, as the world's international reserves are held in U.S. treasury bonds (T-bonds). It has now changed.

The shift in the energy matrix, driven by growing concern about climate change and the search for cleaner, renewable energy sources, has opened up a range of opportunities for investors. China's growing influence in Latin America has significantly reshaped the regional energy landscape. The main Latinamerican countries have made progress towards renewable energies, but the change in the energy matrix is still a long way off. This article will review the participation of the Red Dragon in Latin America in the electricity sector on the renewable energy side.