The port opening in Chancay underscores China’s growing clout in a region that once looked primarily to the United States for economic opportunity.

South of the border, China is ascendant.Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrives this week in a region where China has replaced the U.S. as the dominant trading partner for most big economies, with the exceptions of Mexico and Colombia.

"Since the beginning of the new century, the growth rate of China-Latin America goods trade volume has been much higher than the trade growth rate of Latin America and the Caribbean with the rest of the world in the same period, which highlights the high complementarity between the economies of China and Latin America," Lin said.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is set to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru this week, as China increasingly looks to Latin America for investment. While in the country, Xi is expected to inaugurate a $1.3 billion megaport in Chancay ...

As a deflated Biden and Xi both arrive in Peru for the summit, the prospect of growing US isolationism will loom over discussions.