China Is Investing Billions in Latin America, Potentially Sidelining U.S. Farmers for Decades to Come

China is investing billions in Latin America, potentially sidelining US farmers for decades to come

Reading Time: 8 minutes From the docks of the Port of Santos, a 58-terminal complex covering an area the size of 1,500 American football fields, ships loaded with soybeans prepare to set sail for China.  Less than 45 miles from São Paulo, the port services nearly a quarter of Brazil’s soybean exports. For decades, U.S. agribusiness giants like Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge and Cargill have operated facilities at the port.  Today, they share spac…

China Is Investing Billions in Latin America, Potentially Sidelining U.S. Farmers for Decades to Come

Chinese state-backed money is remaking the hemisphere’s ports — from Santos to Chancay — reshaping grain routes to Asia and squeezing U.S. farmers as tariffs deepen the split with Washington.

5 things to know: Our investigation into China’s shift to Latin American agriculture

This past year, China has significantly reduced purchases of U.S. agricultural exports in response to President Trump’s tariff hikes. U.S. farmers are struggling as Chinese companies have sought soybeans and other products from countries such as Brazil.  But this month, Investigate Midwest’s Monica Cordero took a closer look at just how much China has shifted and how its recent investments in Latin America could mean a long-term drop in U.S. pur…

China is pouring billions into South American grain-handling ports, effectively bypassing American farmers

Investigate Midwest  last week posted an article titled “China Is Investing Billions in Latin America, Potentially Sidelining U.S. Farmers for Decades to Come.”  The piece was re-posted this morning by Successful Farming. It follows similar reports published throughout 2025 in, among others,  The  Wall Street Journal. The common theme throughout this stream of reports? China has successfully completed an end run around the tariff-obsessed Donald…