US-China Rivalry in Trade and Economic Relations with Latin American Countries

Molokoedov Daniil Igorevich Postgraduate, Department of Theory and History of International Relations, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 117198, Russia, Moscow, Miklukho-Maklaya str., 10, room 2. molokoedovd@bk.ru

Sun' Syatsin Postgraduate, Department of Theory and History of International Relations, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 117198, Russia, Moscow, Miklukho-Maklaya str., 10, room 2. sunxiaqing731@gamil.com

 Introduction

Based on the historical process of interstate relations between China and the United States with Latin American countries, China's increased influence in the region is not yet able to compete with the political interests of the United States in Latin America.

However, the diversification of Latin American countries' foreign relations is becoming increasingly obvious, in particular, the level and quality of China's cooperation with Latin America has significantly increased, which forces Washington to reconsider its policy towards Beijing. Also, in the Latin American region, China is increasing the coefficient of cooperation with the countries of this region in the trade and economic sphere, which in turn, after the Trump administration came to power in the United States of America in 2017, led to the beginning of the process of ousting the United States from the trade and economic sphere of influence in Latin America, and, thus, the United States has a competitor in the face of China. The main purpose of this study is the problem of China's activities aimed at intercepting initiatives in economic and political terms in Latin American countries, and the analysis of the activities of the United States trying to maintain its influence in this region.

The theoretical basis for considering the rivalry between the United States and China for trade and economic ties with Latin American countries was the concept of "Power Transit" (Power Transition Theory) first formulated by Professor Abramo Fimo Kenneth Organsky and published in the textbook "World Politics" in 1958. Within the framework of this concept and on the basis of trade and economic indicators, the authors analyze the degree of influence of China and the United States on the Latin American region.As part of the study, the authors applied a comparative analysis of trade and economic data, which include indicators of trade dependence and foreign trade of the United States and China with Latin American countries for the period from 2017 to 2022, based on data from the websites of the International Trade Center, The Observatory of Economic Complexity and the research project "USA vs. China: contours of global competition".

This research was carried out on the basis of the Department of Theory and History of International Relations of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia in 2021. The study is based on a comparison of the influence of the United States and China on the countries of the world in the political and economic spheres. The calculations were made on the database of international organizations and statistical bureaus of the USA and China, which are in the public domain. In this case, the authors selected the trade and economic indicators of Latin America and the Caribbean for 2019.

In this work, information from scientific articles by well-known authors in Russian and Chinese is used. Among them are the works of such authors as Bernal – Meza R. The article of this author reveals the problems of relations between Latin America and China with reference to the key works of Latin American researchers. No less interesting and significant in content is the work of Brosovich F.D. The article of this author analyzes the negative socio-political consequences to which the United States is involved. Also, it is worth mentioning the joint work of such authors as Degtereva D.A., Ramich M.S., Tsvyk A.V. This article is devoted to the phenomenon of global competition between China and the United States from the point of view of the theory of "power transit". One of the most significant articles, the information from which was used in this work, is authored by P.P. Yakovlev. The first monograph describes the changes in the international situation of Latin America over the past decade and a half, affecting all the main areas of foreign relations of the countries of the region. China's presence in the region has dramatically expanded, which was manifested in the growth of trade turnover and Chinese investments, as well as the transition from a bilateral level of interaction to a multilateral format. The second monograph of this author is devoted to the analysis of the complex and contradictory geopolitical situation developing in Latin America under the influence of global processes, one of which is the rivalry between Washington and Beijing for a leading role on the world stage. The author shows that in the last decade, in trade, economic and financial terms, Latin America has become increasingly "squeezed" between the United States and China, which account for more than half of the total trade turnover of Latin American countries, as well as a decisive part of the investment and credit resources coming to the region.The article has 6 parts.

The authors of this article began their analysis with a chapter devoted to the historical process of China's formation as a full-fledged actor in international politics and the world economy, and list the features of the bilateral relations of China and the United States with Latin America, for further analysis of trade and economic relations with Latin American countries. In the following part, the authors focused on describing the interception of China's leadership in Latin America in economic terms, which will later play a role in political influence in this region. The most important chapter in this study is devoted to a comparative analysis of the trade and economic indicators of China and the United States in the countries of the Latin American region, which show that economic influence also turns into political influence.The historical process and features of China-US bilateral relations with Latin America

To better understand what place the United States and China occupy in the economies of Latin American countries, trace the historical context of the relations between the two powers with Latin American countries.

Due to its remoteness and the Pacific Ocean, official diplomatic relations between China and Latin America began to be established in the 1960s. Therefore, until the 1990s, Sino-American relations were rarely mixed with Latin American factors, and US foreign policy towards China rarely included Sino-Latin American relations. In the 1970s. In recent years, China and Latin American countries have reached the apogee of establishing diplomatic relations.

At the beginning of the XXI century, frequent high-level contacts between China and Latin America and the expansion of the spheres of economic and trade cooperation gradually formed the trilateral relations of China and the United States with Latin America. The content of Sino-Latin American relations has also developed from economic and trade cooperation to comprehensive strategic partnership ^{[15, p. 79]}. The United States, which considers Latin America its "backyard," is not confident in the rapid development of Sino-Latin American relations. Therefore, an objective analysis of the development process and the specifics of relations between China and the United States with Latin America is undoubtedly an important prerequisite for understanding this area of relations.

At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, a political and economic confrontation began between a group of Western countries led by the United States and a group of Eastern European countries led by the USSR. China, as a socialist country, and Latin American countries, constrained by the United States, are mostly in a state of isolation. Under the influence of US-Soviet relations, China did not establish diplomatic relations with any Latin American country until the 1960s. At the same time, the United States has never abandoned its strategic position in Latin America, striving to establish its hegemony in the entire American region and stabilize the political position of Latin America as its "backyard". And Latin American countries that got rid of colonial rule sought to establish national sovereignty and pursue an independent foreign policy. This is evidenced by the efforts of the leaders of countries such as Cuba, Venezuela and Argentina to create a "Latin American community". In the middle of the twentieth century . China and Latin American countries are facing the same development situation.

On September 28, 1960, China established diplomatic relations with Cuba, the first socialist country in Latin America, thereby establishing the first diplomatic relations between China and Latin American countries. In February 1972, US President Nixon visited China, which marked a thaw in relations between Beijing and Washington. At the same time, China and Latin American countries have also entered the culmination of the establishment of diplomatic relations. After the end of the cold war, relations between China and the United States steadily developed, which objectively contributed to the further expansion of China's contacts with Latin American countries. I must say that China and Latin America have achieved new successes in terms of political relations (an increase in the number of countries that have established diplomatic relations), economic and trade exchanges (an increase in the scale of bilateral trade) and cultural exchanges. In particular, human diplomacy has significantly strengthened mutual understanding between China and Latin America and has made an important contribution to spreading China's image in Latin America. In 2000, the volume of trade between China and Latin America reached 12.595 billion US dollars, an increase of almost 6 times compared to 2.29 billion US dollars in 1990 ^{[16, p. 61]}.

In the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping outlined China's independent foreign policy of peace in talks with Brazilian President Joao Figueiredo and Argentine President Alfonso, who visited China successively, and proposed cooperation between China and Latin America in the management of public affairs. In 2001, Jiang Zemin visited six Latin American countries, including Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba, Venezuela and Brazil, which opened a new chapter of high-level interaction between China and Latin America. In the same year, China joined the World Trade Organization, and its economic development entered a new stage of accelerated growth. China and the United States have maintained the basic stability of relations between the two countries on the basis of maintaining ideological differences, creating Sino-Latin American relations in relatively favorable conditions for development. Sino-Latin American relations have grown out of nothing, from small to large and, generally speaking, are still in the initial stage of development. Sino-American relations are still fundamental in relations with Latin America, maintaining high stability in an unbalanced structure of relations, but the United States has begun to realize the continuous development of relations between China and Latin America, especially after China's accession to the WTO.

Since China's accession to the WTO, the country's status in world politics, economy and culture has gradually increased, and its role in managing international affairs has become increasingly prominent. Speaking of politics, China has established diplomatic relations with 21 out of 33 Latin American countries, and the Chinese Communist Party maintains close contacts with more than 90 political parties in almost 30 Latin American countries.

Since the mid-1990s, China has consistently established comprehensive strategic partnerships or strategic partnerships with six countries, including Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and Peru ^{[17, p. 87]}, and further institutionalized political consultations between China and Latin America ^{[17, p. 90]}. Bilateral dialogue platforms such as the China-Latin America Cooperation Forum and the Mechanism of the Bilateral Economic and Trade Joint Committee have also actively identified positions in the field of creating mechanisms for multilateral cooperation.  ^{[18, p. 130]}.

The mechanism of consultations at the level of national foreign ministers, in which the main Latin American countries are used as a point of strategic breakthrough, and the mechanism of bilateral and multilateral cooperation as a point of strategic support, reflects the basic logic of China's foreign policy towards Latin America. From the point of view of trade and economic relations, after joining the WTO, China's contribution to global economic growth increased from 2% at the beginning of reforms and openness to 33.2% in 2016 (in constant prices in US dollars in 2010) (China's contribution to global economic growth far exceeds the contribution of Europe and the United States. // Aftershock.news, - 08.02.2018. URL https://aftershock.news /?q=node/614620&full (accessed: 09.10.2022.)).It is worth noting that in 2016, China's trade with Latin American countries and regions reached 216.6 billion US dollars, which is 16 times more than in 2000, surpassing the EU and becoming the second largest trading partner of Latin America, as well as the country that provided Latin America with the largest loans in US dollars ^{[14, p. 136]}.

Thus, China, in the process of conducting an independent foreign policy, sought to establish political, trade and economic relations with Latin American countries, and gradually became a leading player in the international arena both economically and politically.

China's interception of leadership in trade and economic relations with Latin American countriesBuilding independent global diplomatic relations is China's strategic choice in the context of the rapid development of globalization.

Since ancient times, China has attached great importance to the establishment of peaceful diplomatic relations with neighboring countries and sought to resolve disputes and tensions between countries through consultations. With the rise of China's international status, its global diplomatic strategy emerged. From the point of view of the geopolitical structure, the security of the country's borders is the cornerstone of the implementation of this strategy. China's primary task in building a comprehensive and multi-level diplomatic structure in the world is to stabilize and operate diplomacy with neighboring countries, which corresponds to the constant strengthening of the US presence in Latin America. The United States is the most important country in China's international relations. Successive Chinese leaders have attached great importance to establishing good political mutual trust with Washington. China and the United States have their own interests in the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America, but in terms of peace and development, the two sides have more common interests than traditional disagreements between major powers. Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that there is enough space in the vast Pacific Ocean to accommodate two major powers, China and the United States, which is the most direct expression of the new Chinese concept of Asian security, which is common, comprehensive, joint and sustainable. (Wang Jixi.The biggest strategic mutual doubt between China and the United States is "two orders of magnitude." // Finance.ifeng.com, - 31.03.2017. URL: http://finance.ifeng.com/news/special/SinoUSrelations5/.).Latin America is an important center within the framework of US national security, and the United States Government has never relaxed its vigilance regarding China's diplomatic strategy in Latin America, especially regarding the increase in China's military power.

Wang Xiaomei summarized the cognitive trends of various stakeholders in the United States regarding Sino-Latin American relations. Thus, he noted that the US Congress is concerned about the influence of the "Monroe doctrine", US military analysts exaggerate the problems of Sino-Latin American cooperation, and conservatives exaggerate the threat of this cooperation in the media, but the academic community rationally assesses the impact of Sino-Latin American cooperation ^{[19, p. 79]}. 

Some conservatives in the United States even misinterpreted China's intention to "cultivate deeply" in Latin America, believing that China views this region as a source of raw materials, a market for finished products and a platform for projecting power (Stephen Johnson. Balancing China's Growing Influence in Latin America // Heritage Foundation. - 2005. URL: https://www.heritage.org/americas/report/balancing-chinas-growing-influence-latin-america (date of application: 12.11.2022)). The US national security awareness and its global power strategy complement each other and are its two sides. Although various parties in the United States have expressed different views on China's diplomatic strategy in Latin America, Washington has always shown a high degree of concern about China's growing influence in the Latin American region.

What needs to be clarified is that China has always adhered to the five principles of peaceful coexistence and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. China has political and economic considerations to implement Latin America's diplomatic strategy. 22 out of 33 Latin American countries and regions have established good diplomatic relations with China, but there are still 12 Latin American countries that are the so-called "diplomatic countries" of Taiwan. Through economic cooperation and cultural exchanges with Latin American countries, strengthening political mutual trust and reducing Taiwan's Latin American "diplomatic space", China has made a prudent choice to protect its core national interests ^{[11, p. 15]}.

Although the diplomatic efforts of China and the United States in Latin America are aimed at protecting the main national interests, the strategic goals of Latin American diplomacy of the two countries have their own priorities. The United States and Latin America geographically border each other, and the importance of the geopolitical model of the two sides is extremely noticeable. On the other hand, China and Latin America do not have territorial disputes, historical and geopolitical conflicts ^{[20, p. 122]}.

The shift of the center of the world economy and trade, followed by global politics towards the Asia-Pacific region determined the main geo—economic and geopolitical shift in the international situation of Latin American countries - a turn towards rapidly growing Asian (primarily Chinese) markets and the expansion of the entire spectrum of relations with the states of this part of the globe ^{[12, p. 22]}. This trend is clearly visible on the example of significant changes in the geographical orientation of Latin American exports and imports, in particular, radical changes in the ratio of the share of the American and Chinese markets in Latin American foreign trade. The data show that in the period 2001-2017, the share of the United States in the total foreign trade turnover of the region decreased from 51 to 38%, while the share of China increased from 2 to 13%. In absolute terms, American exports to Latin America have less than doubled (from 168 to 321 billion dollars), while the same Chinese figure has increased 16 times: from 8 to 130 billion dollars.

However, in 2015, Latin America and the Caribbean accounted for only 5.96% of China's total imports and exports, while its share in the United States was close to 14%. China's share in Latin America and the Caribbean's imports and exports is also much lower than the US share, and even in the first half of 2016, the volume of trade between China and Latin America fell sharply (China is becoming Latin America's second largest trading partner, Western media: growing influence. // Chinadaily.com , - 08.04.2017. URL: http://caijing.chinadaily.com.cn/2014-12/04/content_19021411.htm . (accessed 2.10.2022)). Nevertheless, in a matter of years, China seized the economic initiative and took a prominent place in the foreign trade relations of a number of leading Latin American states: Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Chile ^{[11, p. 51]}. Beijing has established strategic partnership relations with the above-mentioned countries, thanks to which Chinese-Latin American cooperation has not been limited to trade, but has spread to all spheres of economic and financial activity ^{[9, p. 63]}. Therefore, although China's economic and trade cooperation and capital exports to Latin America are growing, this is not enough to shake the special role of the United States in the economic development of Latin America.

The coming to power of the Trump administration in the United States in 2017 undoubtedly played a role in the competition between China and the United States for the Latin American region. So, due to the short-sighted policy of the newly arrived administration, duties on biofuel imports were introduced in 2017. Argentina, thereby, lost the most important American market for itself. Since 2018, tariffs on Chinese goods (steel and aluminum) have increased, which led to the introduction by Beijing of its retaliatory sanctions, under which the PRC refused to purchase American soybeans, pork, fruits and began to conclude contracts in Brazil and Argentina ^{[10, p. 201]}. In addition, in the period from 2016 to 2020, pro-American governments came to power in a number of countries, such as Brazil and Panama, which canceled or froze Chinese projects adopted by previous administrations ^{[8, p. 177]}. In addition, D. Trump exerted pressure on several governments (Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Panama, the Dominican Republic) to force them not to implement Chinese 5G networks ^{[1, p. 472]}.Currently, direct economic competition between China and the United States in Latin America is not so noticeable, but there are still inevitable trade contradictions.

China attaches great importance to wholesale trade with Latin American countries, especially oil, new energy sources and agricultural products. China also supplies consumer goods ^{[3, p. 109]}. At the same time, capital exports in Latin America are also mainly concentrated in investment areas such as infrastructure construction, mining and emerging energy, however, mining and infrastructure construction are no longer in the focus of US foreign investment due to the adjustment of the US global strategy, the ongoing recession and the slow recovery of the global economy, and There is also political chaos in some Latin American countries. (The rise of China in Latin America from the point of view of America // Sohu.com . - 08.01.2016. URL: http://mt.sohu.com/20160108/n433930904.shtml (accessed 3.10.2022.)).

Summing up this chapter, it should be noted that the decline in the influence of the United States in Latin America and the natural increase in the influence of China in this region were due to the short-sighted policy of the administration of D. Trump. In this regard, for reasons of national security and political stability and to prevent China's economic penetration into Latin America, the United States intends to continue to pay attention to Sino-Latin American relations in the field of economic and trade cooperation. In the next chapter, the authors provide a comparative analysis of the trade and economic indicators of the United States and China with Latin American countries Comparison of indicators of trade and economic relations between China and the United States with Latin America and the Caribbean

In order to determine the degree of influence of China and the United States on the Latin American region in the trade and economic sphere, the authors of this article presented indicators from the website of the research project "USA vs. China: Contours of global competition" (USA vs. China: contours of global competition.

    URL: https://g2.rudn.ru/ru / (accessed 10/25/2022)).Table 1. Indicators of trade dependence of Latin American countries with China and the USA for 2019.

A country

    According to the indicators of trade dependence for 2019 (Table 1.), we see that Latin American countries with a coefficient of + 0% gravitate more towards China (countries highlighted in red), in turn, countries with a coefficient of – 0% gravitate more towards the United States (countries highlighted in blue), and At first glance, it can be seen that most of the Latin American countries are in trade dependence on the United States, however, most of the leading countries of South America, such as Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina, are in the list of countries gravitating towards China. For example, relations between China and Brazil are developed within the framework of South-South cooperation. This cooperation is based on equality and is aimed at creating mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation. The peculiarity of South-South cooperation provides for the predominance of technical assistance, the transfer of expertise in various areas of economic and scientific and technological development ^{[5, p. 190]}. In recent years, one of the key directions of the PRC to consolidate its own influence in the region has been the process of institutionalization of relations with Latin American countries. Based on the successful experience of cooperation in Africa, China continues to develop a similar model of multilateral cooperation in the LCA. Back in 2014, the China–CELAC Forum was created to better coordinate and deepen relations in all areas, which in itself became evidence of the growing importance of Latin America in China's global economic diplomacy ^[2]. At the same time, it should be noted that the majority of South American countries (except Venezuela) began to actively enter the zone of influence only after 2018, with them China prefers to build trade and economic relations based on high volumes of imports of products from these countries, thereby securing a significant, and in some cases even a leading position as a trading partner ^[6].If we study the data on the graph of China's exports to Latin America (Fig. 1.), we can see that for five years from 2017 to 2022, exports tended to grow and peaked in July of this year, after which exports declined.

(Trading Economics. China is an Export to Latin America. URL: https://ru.tradingeconomics.com/china/exports-to-latin-america (accessed 3.11.2022.))

Fig. 1. China's export schedule to Latin America (2017-2022).Table 2. China's exports and imports to Latin America for 2019-2020.

The share of goods in China's exports in 2019

It is also worth noting a significant percentage of imports of leguminous crops, since soybeans-17.9%-17.3%. (The Observatory of Economic Complexity. URL: https://oec.world/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/export/chn/atg. (accessed: 11/28/2022)).

Table 3. U.S. exports and imports to Latin America for 2019-2020 D olya goods in the USA in 2019

(Table 3.) indicate that the main percentage of exports is refined oil 16.2%-13.1%, electrical engineering products (office computer equipment 3.26%-2.83%, microchips-2.26%-3.17%), automotive engineering products (spare parts 4.73%-4.39%, cars 1.25%-1.02%). From Latin America, the United States mainly imports electrical engineering products (computers – 6.25%-6.93%, wires 2.93%-2.87%, displays 2.34%-2.73%), automotive products (cars 5.72-7.06, auto parts, trucks 5.31-5.32), crude oil 5.66-3.72, as well as medical equipment. (The Observatory of Economic Complexity. URL: https://oec.world/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/export/chn/atg. (accessed: 11/28/2022)).

Fig. 2. Schedule of US exports to Latin America (2017-2021)Fig. 3. China's export schedule to Latin America (2017-2021) 

Figures 2 and 3 show data from the International Trade Center website on exports from China and the United States to Latin America for the period from 2017 to 2021.

On these charts, we can see that the exports of the United States and China are at a stable level, despite the decline in exports in 2020 due to the coronavirus epidemic, the epidemic of which has become a challenge for the entire Latin American region ^[7]. Also, we see that exports are at a high level for 2021. Comparing these indicators, it can be noted that in 2021, the United States is much ahead of China in terms of exports, however, if we take into account the growth rate of China's trade turnover with Latin American countries, we are seeing a sharp increase in exports of goods to Latin American countries. (ITC. Trade map. URL: https://www.trademap.org/Country_SelProductCountry_TS_Graph.aspx?nvpm (accessed: 11/30/2022)). Compared to 2020, China's exports to LA increased by 52%. Yue Yunxia, director of the Department of Economics of the Latin American Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that bilateral trade in 2021 had "outstanding indicators." According to Yue, there are two main reasons for the growth of commodity exchange: on the one hand, an increase in Chinese imports of agricultural products such as soybeans or beef, as well as an increase in mineral exports from Latin America, and on the other hand, an increase in raw material prices. (Trade turnover between China and Latin America in 2021 increased by 41%.//IA Krasnaya Vesna, - 25.01.2022. URL: https://rossaprimavera.ru/news/0da87199 (accessed: 11/27/2022)).

I must say that last year there were also several important events in China's economic diplomacy in LAC: in December 2021, Nicaragua announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Taiwan, recognition of the "one China" policy and the establishment of diplomatic relations with China ("Comunicado Conjunto" 2021). Although the full details of the agreement have not yet been announced, China has already given Nicaragua the first 200,000 doses of the national Xinguan vaccine, which is a total of one million doses (Medina 2021).

Shortly thereafter, in January 2022, the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Nicaragua's accession to the Belt and Road Initiative, which opens up the possibility of increased investment and financing from China ("China and Nicaragua", 2022). Nicaragua joins Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama and ten other Caribbean countries as a non-ADB participant in the Belt and Road initiative. In 2021, two Latin American and Caribbean countries become full members of the ADB - Argentina in March 2021 and Chile in July 2021; Peru joins the ADB in January 2022. Argentina and Chile have contributed US$ 5 million and US$10 million, respectively, and Peru's total paid-up capital is just over US$ 156 million. In 2020, ADB provided a loan to the Ecuadorian National Finance Corporation, which remains the only approved loan for LAC country, jointly funded by the ADB's New Crown Crisis Recovery Fund and the World Bank, to ease liquidity constraints and support SMEs ("Ecuador: Finance Corporation").(Economic Bulletin of China, Latin America and the Caribbean. 2022 URL: https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bu.edu%2Fgdp%2Ffile (accessed 11/27/2022)).

After Ecuador and Uruguay, Chile and Peru became the third and fourth "twin members" of the Belt and Road and ADB in the LAC region ("Argentina joins" 2022). In 2022, Argentina signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China on financing more than 23 billion US dollars, mainly for infrastructure projects, of which 14 billion US dollars will be allocated to projects within the framework of the Strategic Dialogue on Economic Cooperation and Coordination (Decce), and since 2017 it has been financing railway, hydropower and nuclear facilities and others major projects ("El Gobierno"). "El Gobiernoanuncia" 2022 "TercerDi?logo" 2017). The remaining US$ 9.7 billion will be at the disposal of new special working groups to finance projects in the fields of energy, water supply and sanitation, transport and housing.(Economic Bulletin of China, Latin America and the Caribbean. 2022 URL: https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bu.edu%2Fgdp%2Ffile (accessed 11/27/2022)).

If we talk about the common interests of the United States in the region, it is obvious that Washington is extremely interested in reinstalling its influence in Latin America. To turn it into your "backyard" again in order to control political processes, to engage voices in the UN for your own purposes, to have access to natural and human resources, and also to prevent the growth of cooperation between countries with Russia and China. The Government of the United States of America, in turn, is trying to maintain its influence in this region by easing some economic restrictions. For example, the Biden administration may ease sanctions against Caracas in exchange for the resumption of Chevron's work on Venezuelan fields. The US wants to resume access to oil at least in the short term. Previously, as part of a "gesture of goodwill", the US released the convicted nephews of President Maduro, and Venezuela in response released seven US citizens from prison. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Maduro government has agreed to resume negotiations with the opposition on the terms of holding "free and fair" elections in 2024. An additional agreement on the release of hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen Venezuelan accounts in the United States is also being discussed. (The US is "rebooting" Latin America//Katehon.com . – 10/14/2022 URL: https://katehon.com/ru/article/ssha-perezagruzhayut-latinskuyu-ameriku (accessed 22.12.2022)).

Based on the above data, we come to the following conclusion. Although the United States has a high total volume of exports and imports of goods in Latin America, multiple foreign policy miscalculations and the increasing role of China in Latin America's most developed economies (such as Brazil), both in trade and economic and political terms. It follows from this that the United States, although not in the near future, but in the foreseeable future, within the framework of "power transit", risks losing influence in this region. At the same time, the period of "power transit", which began in 2010-2020, will end after the power of the PRC reaches 120% of the American one ^{[4, p. 211]}.Conclusion

In conclusion of the article, the authors come to the following conclusions.

Proper maintenance of diplomatic relations with the United States and Latin America is an unavoidable area of China's Pacific diplomacy. Relatively speaking, Sino-American relations are the most defining and important factor that determines and influences the vector of the foreign policy of the two powers in relation to Latin America. It also shows that China and the United States have different political and economic views on Latin America, and at the same time, China and the United States have different positions and roles in Latin America. Despite the Trump administration's short-sighted foreign policy towards Latin America, The United States is still an external force that cannot be ignored in Latin American international relations.

In Latin American countries, the process of US-Chinese rivalry at the global level is being watched with attention, wariness and apprehension. This is due not only to the current situation, but also to the dynamics of relations between Washington and Beijing, the growing contradictions at the global and regional levels. Latin Americans believe, not without reason, that the outbreak of trade wars and other types of US-Chinese confrontation can harm the development of the world economy and harm the interests of the region, which critically depends on international trade and financial markets. Given that China's exports are growing at a significant rate, China has every chance of gradually displacing the United States from the foreign market in Latin America thanks to its economic projects with the introduction of leading Latin American countries in the economic sphere. The United States of America, in turn, is trying to maintain its position in this region by easing its economic and financial constraints and, thereby, inclining the political leadership of Latin American countries to its side.