Over the past few years, a handful of Central American and Caribbean countries have switched their political allegiance from Taiwan to Mainland China. In all likelihood, these governments assume there will be financial benefits from forging diplomatic ties with China, including through more trade and investment with China. A study

A Peruvian trade official stated that Peru and China will resume trade talks to upgrade their bilateral trade agreement soon, while Uruguay plans to expand exports to China with potential trade talks.

After months of negotiations, China and Ecuador signed a bilateral trade agreement last week. This makes Ecuador the fourth country in the Latin American region to have a trade agreement with China.

Argentine Economy Minister Sergio Massa announced last week that Argentina agreed to make payments for Chinese imports in Yuan rather than U.S. dollars, in an effort to maintain its reserves of U.S. dollars.

Brazilian President Lula da Silva visited China last week, and the two sides signed a number of agreements related to trade, investment, lending, space exploration, technology and innovation. However, there was no announcement on Brazil joining the BRI, despite the hopes of some on both sides.

A planned trip by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to China was postponed indefinitely due to the president's illness. Nonetheless, it did not stop a series of agreements on bilateral cooperation from being announced in recent weeks. These new agreements cover a number of areas, including

China's central bank announced today that it signed a memorandum of understanding on Chinese yuan (RMB) clearing arrangements with Brazil's central bank. While China has pushed for broader use of its currency for cross-border transactions, progress in making the RMB a leading global currency for cross-border