Also, Afghanistan. I met a Chinese woman while I was traveling Japan. She was showing me pictures of her last two trips, Nigeria and Afghanistan. She owns a business in her city and employs people from those two countries. They had invited her to visit their homes. I remember thinking looking at how much the people adored her in the images and videos from Afghanistan that she is very dangerous and probably doesn't know it. She had me holding her bags as she was shopping for Rolex watches and handmade tea sets in Kyoto taking advantage of the currency rates in Japan. I'm in South America now and saw first hand how China has huge influence in Peru and Panama. My neighbors in the airbnb in a luxury condo in Lima were mostly business people from China in the mining industry who also spoke English. There is a lot of Canadian mining influence in Peru also. China is also far more connected to Ecuador and Bolivia. Good thing the US still has close ties with Colombia .... oh, wait, they attacked the US Embassy with bow and arrows last week.
If Elon wants access to that lithium he needs to get his shit together.
Good thing for the United States the single most influential person in Latin America is from the United States, Bad Bunny.
Indeed - We are kind of inured to it the "west" (or western aligned so we can include Japan, Korea and Taiwan) because we use Chinese production but we don't use all of it preferring to buy our own brands even if they are using Chinese components or straight made in China but if you step to the edges of the west (say Hungary which is the one I know the best) you see Chinese brands everywhere because they are as good and frequently cheaper and outside of those areas the gap widens further.
The US did (and does) have a counter balance in its complete domination of the tech landscape, excellent sources of capital, "loose" immigration policies and excellent universities - all of which they set on fire for reasons I don't entirely as a European understand.
If Elon wants access to that lithium he needs to get his shit together.
Good thing for the United States the single most influential person in Latin America is from the United States, Bad Bunny.