Goods from anywhere shipped through Chinese ports across Latin America would face the same 60% tariffs as those President-elect Donald Trump has promised on imports from the Asian trade powerhouse under a plan proposed over the weekend. The idea was floated by Mauricio Claver-Carone, an adviser to the presidential transition who served as Trump’s senior official for the region during his first term in the White House. The immediate focus is a new Chinese-owned port in Chancay, Peru, that was inaugurated last week by President Xi Jinping and his Peruvian counterpart. President Dina Boluarte rolled out the red carpet for Xi in Lima for a glitzy ceremony featuring a dragon dance and the leaders connecting to the port via video from a marbled room of the presidential palace to survey the work of a crane. Read More: China’s Gamble on Peru Port Draws Snags From Andes to Amazon The celebration may be short-lived if Claver-Carone gets his way. Claver-Carone was known for being tough on Beijing in the first Trump administration and a two-year turn leading Inter-American Development Bank. Photographer: Paul Gambin/Bloomberg He proposes that goods from anywhere including Peru’s much larger neighbor Brazil and shipped via the new port and others around Latin American and the Caribbean — from Manzanillo in Mexico to Buenos Aires — be treated the same as those arriving to the US directly from Shanghai. Read More: A a Trillion Reckoning Looms as Ports Become Pawns in Geopolitics That could diminish the optimism not only for Peru, but also for Mexico — the largest US trade partner — where China operates several port concessions, from Ensenada in the north on the Baja California coast to Lazaro Cardenas and Veracruz in the south. China also operates ports near the Panama Canal. The tariffs idea is “a shot across the bow” to any country partnering with China on maritime infrastructure, Claver-Carone said. “Any product going through Chancay or any Chinese-owned or controlled port in the region should be subject to a 60% tariff, as if the product was from China,” Claver-Carone said Saturday in a telephone interview. - RELATED READING: Xi is positioning China as the chief defender of the international trading system. He also used his final meeting with Joe Biden to send a clear message to Donald Trump: China wants to be friends, but is ready for a fight if necessary. Meanwhile, large corporations are bracing for chaos under Trump’s second presidency, which is expected to be as transactional as his first.
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