Crypto News: Supply Lines: Ports and geopolitics

Goods from anywhere shipped through Chinese ports across Latin America would face the same 60% tariffs as those President-elect Donald Trump has promised on imports from the Asian trade powerhouse under a plan proposed over the weekend.

The idea was floated by Mauricio Claver-Carone, an adviser to the presidential transition who served as Trump's senior official for the region during his first term in the White House.

The immediate focus is a new Chinese-owned port in Chancay, Peru, that was inaugurated last week by President Xi Jinping and his Peruvian counterpart. President Dina Boluarte rolled out the red carpet for Xi in Lima for a glitzy ceremony featuring a dragon dance and the leaders connecting to the port via video from a marbled room of the presidential palace to survey the work of a crane.

The celebration may be short-lived if Claver-Carone gets his way. Claver-Carone was known for being tough on Beijing in the first Trump administration and a two-year turn leading Inter-American Development Bank.

Photographer: Paul Gambin/Bloomberg

He proposes that goods from anywhere including Peru's much larger neighbor Brazil and shipped via the new port and others around Latin American and the Caribbean — from Manzanillo in Mexico to Buenos Aires — be treated the same as those arriving to the US directly from Shanghai.

That could diminish the optimism not only for Peru, but also for Mexico — the largest US trade partner — where China operates several port concessions, from Ensenada in the north on the Baja California coast to Lazaro Cardenas and Veracruz in the south. China also operates ports near the Panama Canal.

The tariffs idea is "a shot across the bow" to any country partnering with China on maritime infrastructure, Claver-Carone said.

"Any product going through Chancay or any Chinese-owned or controlled port in the region should be subject to a 60% tariff, as if the product was from China," Claver-Carone said Saturday in a telephone interview.

RELATED READING: Xi is positioning China as the chief defender of the international trading system. He also used his final meeting with Joe Biden to send a clear message to Donald Trump: China wants to be friends, but is ready for a fight if necessary. Meanwhile, large corporations are bracing for chaos under Trump's second presidency, which is expected to be as transactional as his first.

—Eric Martin in Washington

Click here for more of Bloomberg.com's most-read stories about trade, supply chains and shipping.

Orderbook increases | One of the first business surveys since the US election showed optimism about the economic outlook as well as a rush of orders that may reflect efforts to stock up in case Trump raises tariffs on imports. The New York Fed's latest manufacturing index surged a whopping 43.1 points — the most June 2020, when the economy was emerging from the initial shock of the Covid pandemic. The gauge climbed to 31.2 in November, the highest level since the end of 2021, based on survey responses collected Nov. 4-12. The new orders component jumped to the strongest reading since late 2021.

European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel sees the threat of a further fragmentation of the global economy. Separately, Emmanuel Macron's EU influence and legacy are threatened by a trade deal that could set the French leader on a collision course with Brussels.
Group of 20 leaders meeting in Brazil this week are set to show unity on climate action and global trade rules.
FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam is trying to build a company more like rival UPS, while the old boss and his son look over his shoulder.
The entire US Northeast faces an elevated threat of electricity shortages this winter in case of extreme cold weather.
The South Korean won, the second-worst performing currency in Asia this year, looks poised to weaken further as Trump's tariff threat clouds the export-reliant country's economic outlook.
Canadians may face delays in getting their holiday gifts and purchases this year after workers at the national postal service went on strike.
On the last day of the campaign, Trump promised in Pennsylvania to protect American jobs and manufacturing. Absent from his speech was his often-repeated promise to kill the sale of US Steel to Nippon Steel. Since then, the president-elect has remained mum on the deal.

Singapore's exports unexpectedly fell in October on the back of a sharp drop in pharmaceutical shipments and weaker orders from China, signaling an uneven path for the trade-reliant economy.
China's yuan should weaken further on the back of tariffs to be implemented by the Trump administration, with the CNY/USD likely to hit 7.40 in three months, compared with the current 7.23, according to Goldman Sachs.
Run SPLC after an equity ticker on Bloomberg to show critical data about a company's suppliers, customers and peers.
Use the AHOY function to track global commodities trade flows.
See DSET CHOKE for a dataset to monitor shipping chokepoints.
For freight dashboards, see {BI RAIL}, {BI TRCK} and {BI SHIP} and {BI 3PLS}
Click HERE for automated stories about supply chains.
On the Bloomberg Terminal, type NH FWV for FreightWaves content.
See BNEF for BloombergNEF's analysis of clean energy, advanced transport, digital industry, innovative materials, and commodities.

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