The trade war between the United States and China, along with the radical shift in Trump’s foreign policy compared to his predecessors, should compel us to analyze the nature of this conflict and rethink the international partnerships of Latin American countries accordingly. Is this a passing conflict fueled by Trump’s provocative rhetoric? By alleged unfair trade practices of Chinese companies and government? Or, on the contrary, does it stem from systemic causes that must be analyzed in a long-term context?

While the sharp turn that US international politics has taken under the Trump presidency might lead us to the mistaken idea that the trade war will be reversed once he leaves office, a variety of circumstances compel us to be less optimistic. Trump is not the only one who has imposed sanctions on China. On the contrary, China has been subjected to constant pressure from the United States since 2001, when the Asian giant formally joined the WTO. Since then, every US president has imposed onerous economic burdens in a distressed attempt to balance a bilateral trade deficit perceived as extremely unfavorable to the United States.

It is profoundly revealing in this regard the fact that upon assuming the presidency, Biden not only did not reject his predecessor’s economic sanctions against China, but maintained and even expanded them. This reveal us the systemic causes of the trade tension between the two countries, as well as the nervousness that China’s international rise causes within the US political and economic elites. This also reveals that regardless of who is at the helm of the United States or China, the tensions will continue and the rest of the world will remain caught in the middle.

Indeed, China’s economic growth (and some of its trade practices) has been strategically considered a threat to the geopolitical interests of the........

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