medellin colombia – Leaders of 11 Latin American countries are scheduled to meet President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday in Doral, Florida, to discuss a number of U.S. interests, including combating drug trafficking, immigration and foreign (read Chinese) influence in the hemisphere.
President-elect José Antonio Kast, who takes office on March 11, will represent Chile at the “Shield of the Americas Summit.”
At home, Caste and the outgoing administration of Gabriel Borrick are at odds over a recently announced undersea communications cable linking Chile and China. This cable is an infrastructure project strongly opposed by the United States.
On February 20, the Secretary of State announced that the United States would impose visa restrictions on Chilean officials involved in the submarine cable deal, including Transportation Secretary Juan Carlos Muñoz and Communications Undersecretary Claudio Arraya.
Kast abruptly ended presidential transition talks with Boric on Wednesday, claiming his administration had kept him in the dark about the cable project. Boric demurred, saying Kast had been notified weeks ago.
Read more: Democrats’ retreat or mistake?: Chile’s Kast withdraws from power transition talks
China is Chile’s largest trading partner, accounting for approximately 40% of the country’s total exports in 2024. At the same time, the United States is the second largest investor in Chile after Canada.
As President Trump increases American influence in the region, Chile’s tightrope balancing act between the two countries could become more dangerous.
“The Trump administration will treat strategic infrastructure decisions as geopolitical coordination choices,” Mariano Machado, Americas analyst at risk management firm Verisk Maplecroft, told CNBC.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a think tank dedicated to promoting American prosperity globally, said the undersea cable talks at the Shield of the Americas summit could include transparency and security agreements as well as the creation of a “cyber incident reporting network” in an effort to track the volume and location of Chinese intrusions into regional networks.
After the United States canceled the visas of Chilean officials, Chinese Ambassador to Chile Niu Qingdao told Bio Bio Radio: “This project meets the needs of both sides and is beneficial to both sides. What Chilean officials do is very beneficial to both Chile’s national interests and China-Chile friendship, and is also very beneficial to maintaining Chile’s leadership in the digital economy and connectivity.”
He added that the project will comply with the laws of both countries and “will not harm regional security or the security of any other country, as it will not harm any third party (the United States).”
The fate of the China Mobile International cable connecting Valparaiso and Hong Kong is not yet known.
“What we strive for in Chile is to have the best relations with every country,” Caste told reporters before boarding a flight to Miami on Thursday. (…) We want to respect our trade relationship with China, and we also want to respect America’s relationship with the rest of the world,” he said.
Chile is currently working with Google to build a 14,000km undersea cable connecting Chile and Australia via French Polynesia.
