Colombia has long been closest US ally in LATAM: under Trump that is quickly changing
The country officially applied to BRICS bank, citing Trump's trade policies as a principal reason
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Colombia’s government has formally requested entry to the New Development Bank of trade bloc BRICS, acting trade minister Cielo Rusinque said at a forum attended by ambassadors of BRICS countries.
At the forum “Colombia & BRICS that was organized in the capital Bogota,” Rusinque announced the formal request to join the financial institutions that was set up in 2014 as an alternative to investment banks dominated by the United States.
Congressman Alejandro Toro, in comments at the forum suggested that the new trade policies of US President Donald Trump motivated the Colombian government to look for economic opportunities in other parts of the world.
“What President Trump did was throw us into an abyss of opportunity,” he said.
Colombia has increasingly looked towards strengthening trade with Asian countries since Trump took office in January, after having promised sweeping tariffs on U.S. trade partners.
China (28.4%) overtook the U.S.(24.8%) as the origin country with the largest share of Colombian foreign imports in March.
The request to join BRICS is part of “Colombia’s strategic approach to economic bloc, one of the planet’s most dynamic economic forces,” according to Colombian Trade Minister Cielo Rusinque.
She described working with BRICS as potential “south-south cooperation” which “opens an opportunity to diversify our markets, strengthen our economic sovereignty and build strategic alliances with the most dynamic economies of the 21st century.”
Entry to the New Development Bank would allow Colombian governments to seek investment loans outside institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the Inter-American Development Bank that have historically demanded neoliberal policy changes in return.
Congressman Toro, who had organized the summit, said that the BRICS bank would allow investments in areas that are unpopular with the traditional investment banks, stating, “with a bank like the BRICS’...we could obtain loans for issues like education and infrastructure.”
The BRICS summit follows all kinds of bilateral and multilateral meetings within the hemisphere, as well as China and other trade partners from Asia.
Colombia has long been the U.S.’s closest ally in LATAM, both in terms of geopolitics and economically. Under the new aggressive trade policies of Trump, that long-term partnership appears to be dissolving.
This article contains reporting from our sisters and brothers over at Colombia Reports.
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