The Bulletin May 16, 2025
The rundown: Chinese President Xi Jinping made overtures to Latin American and Caribbean countries this week in a bid to make inroads in the region. Read his full remarks.
Why it matters: Launched under Xi, the China–LAC Community is Beijing's vehicle for expanding trade, infrastructure, and political ties with Latin America and the Caribbean, extending China's reach into a region long seen as part of the United States' sphere of influence. "China and LAC countries are important members of the Global South. Independence and autonomy are our glorious tradition," Xi said in a speech in Beijing. Xi also highlighted key achievements under the initiative, including major projects tied to his trillion-dollar Belt and Road infrastructure plan. Chief among them is the new megaport in Chancay, Peru—a joint development between China's state-owned COSCO Shipping Ports and Peru's Volcan Compañía Minera.
Read more in-depth coverage:
China's Space Projects on US Doorstep Have Military Worried
TL/DR: On Wednesday, during the 10th anniversary of the framework's official launch, Xi struck a contrast between China's focus on "win-win" cooperation and what he portrayed as Trump's administration's combative approach.
What happens now? Xi also unveiled five new cooperative programs for the region, including expanded infrastructure investment and a $9 billion line of credit to support future development.
Deeper reading China Makes Overtures to Allies in America's Backyard
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
21 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Xi Bets Trump Detente Will Lead to Future Wins on Chips, Tariffs
In the early hours of Wednesday, Donald Trump declared that Xi Jinping was 'VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!' Some 36 hours later, the US leader said he got what he wanted: A commitment to restore the flow of rare earth magnets. It's less clear what Xi got in return, apart from putting a lid on further punitive US measures. One of the few clear takeaways appeared to be an assurance for the US to welcome Chinese students, a major issue in China but also not one that would explain why Xi got on the phone after making Trump wait for months.
Politico
41 minutes ago
- Politico
Moon over Musk
Presented by The Spotlight The alliance between Donald Trump and Elon Musk — to borrow a phrase from the space community — has undergone a rapid unscheduled disassembly. Yet amid all the fireworks Thursday from the duo's public meltdown, one area of the space world seems to have a brighter future: the moon mission. Context: Musk, the SpaceX founder and well-known Mars enthusiast, has argued against returning astronauts to the lunar surface. But the stunning forced exit of the billionaire's hand-picked nominee for the top NASA job and Musk's massive rupture with the president has handed moon backers in Congress and industry an opening — and they're seizing it. What's happening, Part I: A ton of major space companies — just not SpaceX — are launching an ad campaign going big on the moon, according to two industry officials granted anonymity to discuss the effort. The move is the first sign of real pushback against the behemoth space company and its founder, who only days ago seemed to lock down government contracts every time he blinked. A television ad funded by the companies, who do not go by an umbrella name, will appear on television in the coming days with a pitch clearly aimed at Trump. A narrator, underlaid by dramatic images of America's Apollo missions, implores voters to call senators in support of the moon mission and 'keep America first in space.' A separate letter addressed to the Senate Commerce Committee and obtained by POLITICO backs investments in the moon, and is signed by a lengthy slate of prominent space companies — but not (you guessed it) SpaceX. What's happening, Part II: The Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday evening unveiled a new reconciliation bill that would channel $10 billion to NASA, much of it for the space agency's effort to return to the moon through the Artemis program. The White House's NASA budget had proposed major cuts to Artemis, including slashing a planned lunar space station and moon missions. 'Anybody who's following space will have noticed how deeply committed [the committee is] to getting back to the moon, particularly before the Chinese get there,' said a committee aide, who was granted anonymity to discuss the bill. SpaceX'd Out: All of this is happening amid Musk's very public fall from grace. Trump, during the social media showdown with his former confidante, threatened to cancel Musk's contracts with the government. The SpaceX founder responded by saying he would end the Dragon spacecraft contract, which is the U.S.'s only reliable way of accessing the International Space Station. (But he also suggested late Thursday night that he might not actually do so.) And of course, Trump last week abruptly pulled the NASA administrator nomination for Musk ally Jared Isaacman, just days ahead of his likely confirmation by the Senate. Isaacman, speaking on a podcast this week, linked his ouster to Musk's provocative departure from the White House. 'I don't think the timing was much of a coincidence,' he said. What next: This all means Congress may now have a stronger hand in negotiations with the White House over the NASA budget, which was written before Musk's break from Trump and heavily favors Mars. The administration's budget proposes major cuts to spending for the moon in favor of nearly $1 billion for landing an astronaut on Mars. SpaceX, thanks to provisions in the bill, was likely to snag a lucrative contract to build the landing system for any red planet mission. That seems much less feasible now. Senators from states with large NASA centers — think Alabama and Louisiana — are particularly keen to latch onto moon funding. Trump has voiced support for a Mars mission, meaning the idea may not have completely faded. But with Musk's implosion and the latest moon push, a return to the lunar surface is on firmer ground than it was just a week ago. WELCOME TO POLITICO PRO SPACE. It's our inaugural edition and a telling time to start. We've seen deep slashes to NASA's budget, the space agency's nominee pulled, and a feud explode between the world's biggest space contractor and the president. We can't wait for next week. Email me at sskove@ with tips, pitches and feedback, and find me on X at @samuelskove. We're offering this newsletter for free over the next few weeks. After that, it will be available only to POLITICO Pro subscribers. Read all about what we're doing here. Galactic Government MAKE A DEAL: Florida Rep. Mike Haridopolos, who chairs the House's subcommittee on space and aeronautics, told me Wednesday that he was against the White House's massive NASA cuts — making him one of the first Republicans to publicly voice opposition. 'Will a 26 percent cut to NASA hold? Absolutely not,' he said. 'We're going to be talking with the president and his team, with OMB about the paramount importance of space.' China: Haridopolos emphasized competition with China as a driving reason not to slash the space agency's funding. The proposed cancellation of Gateway — a lunar space station partnership with the European Space Agency — opens the way for Chinese influence, he said. Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican who leads the committee that oversees NASA, underscored a remarkably similar message during Isaacman's confirmation hearing. The Florida lawmaker said he was optimistic that the cuts wouldn't come to fruition. Trump 'believes in the space program,' he said. 'He knows that we want there's no second place to space.' TICKET TO RIDE: Sens. John Cornyn, Ben Ray Luján, Rick Scott, and Mark Kelly introduced a bill Thursday that would streamline licensing processes for commercial space companies, opening the way to a boom in rocket launches. The bill, dubbed the Launch Act, would allow the Federal Aviation Administration to eliminate overly bureaucratic steps in the application process. The law would also create a streamlined process for licensing commercial satellites used to observe the Earth. And it would move the Office of Space Commerce from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and place it directly under the Transportation secretary, a move that would elevate the office's access to key decision makers. Why it matters: Companies such as SpaceX have long complained about the slow pace of launch licensing. Streamlining the process could lead to a significant uptick in an already booming schedule. Companies launched 145 U.S. rockets in 2024, up from 109 the previous year. Military SPACE COMMAND: Lawmakers pressed Air Force Secretary Troy Meink on Thursday to keep U.S. Space Command in Colorado as the Trump administration weighs moving the headquarters to Alabama. The Defense Department established the command in 2019 and temporarily placed it in Colorado while the Air Force evaluated permanent sites. Trump chose Alabama as the permanent headquarters but former President Joe Biden reversed that decision and selected Colorado. What he said: Meink, in a House Armed Services Committee hearing, conceded that Space Command would see civilian employees quit if the HQ moved from Colorado to Alabama. 'It would be very important that we manage that move over a period of time, if that occurs,' the Air Force chief said. Rep. Jeff Crank (R-Colo.) called for the Pentagon to resume headquarters construction at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, calling it the 'most effective' home for Space Command. Context: Officials have paused construction because of a legal requirement to hold off until the Pentagon inspector general and the Government Accountability Office released their reports on the Biden administration's 2023 basing decision. Those reports are out, but Meink said the Air Force is still reviewing the GAO's findings. The Reading Room — Senate Commerce reconciliation bill proposes new space launch fee: POLITICO — Space Force awards BAE $1.2B for missile warning sats in MEO: Breaking Defense — Impulse Space Raises $300M Series C: Payload — Space Force shifts upfront range upgrade costs to commercial firms: Defense News — Some parts of Trump's proposed budget for NASA are literally draconian: Ars Technica Event Horizon TUESDAY: Axiom-4 launches private astronauts to the International Space Station. The Hudson Institute holds a discussio n on defending in outer space with Rep. Jeff Crank. Rep. George Whitesides speaks with SpaceNews on space issues. FRIDAY: The FAA ends public comments on a launch licensing-related issue. Photo of the Week
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
US Targets Niche Gas That China Can't Replace as Trade War Chip
(Bloomberg) -- The US is using its dominance of a niche petroleum gas as a bargaining chip in its trade war with China. Next Stop: Rancho Cucamonga! ICE Moves to DNA-Test Families Targeted for Deportation with New Contract Where Public Transit Systems Are Bouncing Back Around the World US Housing Agency Vulnerable to Fraud After DOGE Cuts, Documents Warn The Global Struggle to Build Safer Cars America supplies China with almost all of its ethane, a product of the shale boom that's used as a building block for making plastics. But the commerce department is now ordering shippers to apply for export licenses, and has told at least one, Enterprise Products Partners LP, that it intends to withhold permits for three China-bound cargoes. The trade war is throwing a spotlight on how the US and China rely on each other for certain commodities — dependencies that both nations are seeking to leverage as they negotiate terms to resolve their dispute. In this case, America is the world's biggest producer of ethane, which is converted into ethylene for plastics factories, and China is its largest customer. The commerce department has cited risks that petroleum products like ethane could be diverted to the military, copying the playbook deployed by Beijing in justifying restrictions on what it calls dual-use items such as rare earths and other critical minerals. 'Ethane is no longer just a byproduct of shale — it's now a geopolitical weapon,' said Julian Renton, lead analyst covering natural gas liquids at East Daley Analytics. 'China bet billions building infrastructure around US ethane, and Washington is now questioning whether that bet should continue to pay off.' America's shale revolution and China's rapid industrialization have coincided this century to create a market where cheap energy byproducts are parlayed into millions of tons of materials used as trash bags and shampoo bottles, car seats and computer keyboards. But companies that prospered from cooperation are now caught in the crossfire of an increasingly antagonistic trade relationship between Washington and Beijing. Chinese firms such as Satellite Chemical Co. operate giant petrochemical plants that process US ethane almost exclusively. US producers like Enterprise Products Partners and Energy Transfer LP rely on exports, almost half of which go to China, to augment sales in their heavily saturated domestic market. Joint Venture Energy Transfer and Satellite formed a joint venture in 2018 to construct a new export terminal on the U.S. Gulf Coast to provide ethane for the Chinese company's plants. It's an example of how infrastructure that facilitates the ethane trade — from specialized terminals and pipelines to expensive tankers purpose-built to carry the fuel — can revolve around long-term relationships between a single buyer and seller, said Renton. The vessels that ship the gas, dubbed Very Large Ethane Carriers, are another case in point. There are about 30 in the world, according to Kpler ship-tracking data, plying dedicated routes. There's not much of a spot market to absorb dislocations in supply or demand, said Renton. 'These aren't oil tankers that can pivot mid-ocean,' he said. At least one VLEC is now idling off the Gulf Coast waiting for its next move, which looks dependent on the US government's approach to licensing. But there's more at stake than the fate of a few cargoes. 'It throws a wrench into multi-billion dollar, multi-decade commercial planning cycles,' said Renton. --With assistance from Sarah Chen. Cavs Owner Dan Gilbert Wants to Donate His Billions—and Walk Again YouTube Is Swallowing TV Whole, and It's Coming for the Sitcom Millions of Americans Are Obsessed With This Japanese Barbecue Sauce Is Elon Musk's Political Capital Spent? Trump Considers Deporting Migrants to Rwanda After the UK Decides Not To ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
