US, China and Latin America in the tariff standoff

The main objective of the article is to characterize both the external and underlying reasons for the American tariff demarche, to reveal their geoeconomic and geopolitical prerequisites. The work is based on the consideration of tariff perturbations within the triangle “USA–China–Latin America”, because it is the Latin American continent that is now at the crossroads of the interests of the USA and China in the non-Western world, possessing special advantages compared to other regions of the Global South. The article confirms the idea that the practice of protectionism, including the introduction of tariffs, has currently lost the role of a trade and economic mechanism, turning into an instrument of political pressure and sanctions. The author characterizes the conditions under which American tariffs could have, if not complete, then compromise success in dialogue with the PRC, as well as the measures that China has chosen to dampen the American tariff “attack”. The author also describes the current state of Sino-Brazilian relations in the light of the tariff threat and notes the fact of the participation of Latin American countries in the practice of protectionism against Chinese goods. This can be explained not only by the desire to protect domestic producers, but also by the reluctance to distance themselves from the United States.