The Peruvian Minister of Foreign Trade said that what Mauricio Claver-Carone said could not necessarily "affect us directly."
Mauricio Claver-Carone, an advisor to Donald Trump's transition team, has proposed imposing a 60% tariff on Chinese products arriving in the United States through the new port of Chancay in Peru, inaugurated last week by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Peruvian counterpart Diana Boluarte in the framework of the APEC summit.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Claver-Carone said the tariff should apply not only to products from China, but also to those from South American countries, as long as they use the new infrastructure financed by the Beijing regime in the region, which has increased its influence and control.
“Any product passing through Chancay or any port owned or controlled by China in the region should be subject to a 60% tariff, as if the product were from China,” he said.
The main reason Claver-Carone is promoting this measure, he explained, is to avoid transshipment, that is, the practice in which goods from other countries enter a territory to then be re-exported to their final destination, in this case the United States, with lower tariffs than if they were sent directly.
The proposal would also seek to discourage Latin American countries from approaching the Chinese regime and allowing the construction of infrastructure in their countries, a growing trend that was revealed in a UN report, which showed that China has a clear dominance over investments and trade in the region, above other actors.
Government response
After learning of this proposal from Trump's team, Peru's Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Desilú León, stated that although the United States is invited to use the Chancay Megaport, it is not necessarily one of the countries that will use it. "Other countries will use our port directly to sail to Asia. The fact that the advisor has indicated that tariffs will be imposed on those who pass through this port does not necessarily affect us directly," she told local radio RPP.
In this regard, he explained that Brazil, for example, could send and receive goods from the Asian continent through Chancay, without going through the United States.
“Many countries are finding a huge window of opportunity because it is not just our reduction in costs and times. It is especially for small exporters who will have fewer extra costs,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Andean country, Elmer Schialer, stated that the Government of Dina Boluarte takes Mauricio Claver-Carone's statements calmly.
“We are studying all possible scenarios. If history is any help, we have seen that Donald Trump's first administration did not go badly, commercially and politically speaking. We have further strengthened our commercial, investment and political relations as well. There should not be any difference,” he said.
“This is also an opportunity for the United States. It is not just the port of Chancay, we are talking about a hub , where we have the Jorge Chávez airport, the port of Callao and the port of Chancay,” he told RPP .
