George Santos: “Today, I rise to address an issue that we can no longer ignore. The Chinese Communist Party has manifested all over…”

“Today, I rise to address an issue that we can no longer ignore. The Chinese Communist Party has manifested all over South America, and, most importantly, overpowering the United States in every single one of those relationships. Today, I will be talking about Brazil, the largest economy in South America, the 10th-largest economy in the world, and the 4th-largest food producer in the world. We have much to gain from our relationship with Brazil, but we still need to act. Now, the CCP has seized its opportunity to assert its dominance. China is the largest trading partner of Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay, and the second-largest trading partner for many other countries. According to the American Enterprise Institute's China Global Investment Tracker, Chinese entities invested a total of $148 billion in Latin America and the Caribbean countries between 2005 and 2022, with Brazil accounting for 44 percent of those investments, a total of $66 billion. Energy projects accounted for 62 percent of the investments and metal mining accounted for 21 percent. The database also shows that the Chinese construction projects in Latin America and Caribbean countries were valued at $68.6 billion over the same period, mainly in the energy, 50 percent, and transportation, which is another 30 percent--in those two respective sectors.…”