b'oCToBer 12 - 25, 2020latin america trade bi-annual 3ChinasEngagementwithwithBrazilaccountingforstruction projects in the region Latin America and the Carib- $60billionandPerualmostwerevaluedatalmost$61 bean.Theresearchpaper$27billion.Energyproj- billion,withenergyprojects notedChinasinvestmentsectsaccountedfor56%ofaccountingforalmost53% inLatinAmericaandtheallinvestmentsandmetals/ andtransportationprojects (RECESSIONcontinuedvices), a non-partisan researchCaribbeanduring2005-2019mining28%.Thesamedata(RECESSIONcontinued from page 2) service for Congress, outlinedamountedto$130billion,base shows that Chinas con- on page 5)Butnotalldebtiscre-ated equal. Foreign debt dif-fers from domestic debt in a key way. Nations service for- WE KNOWeign debt by exportseither by services or goods. And in thecaseofLatinAmerica, amajorityofthoseexports are commodities either agri-culturalormineral.Even innormaltimescommodi- PEOPLEties are subject to wild fluc-tuations.Andthesearefar fromnormaltimes,asthe pandemicinducedglobal recessionhasundermined commoditydemandfurther depressing both the regions abilitytoaddressdebtand further sinking the GDP.InJuly,theEconomic CommissionforLatin AmericaandtheCaribbean (ECLAC)releasedaspe-cialreportontheeconomic impact of the Covid-19 epi-demic on the regions trade. Thekeytakeawayfromthe ECLAC was that the value of exports and imports of goods decreasedby17%between JanuaryandMayof2020 compared to the same period in2019.Bothflowscol-lapsed towards the end of the five-monthperiodin2020, with a 37% fall year-on-year in May. What is disturbing aboutthesenumbersisthe fall in trade volumes for April and May in 2020 exceeds that ofthecomparableperiodin 2009 during the Great Reces-sion [global financial crisis].Mexicomadeeasy.The impacts could be severe asECLACmakesclear, Inthecaseofimports,the declineislargelyattribut-able to the deep recession the region is going through, with the GDP expected to decline to by 9.1% in 2020.Us, C hinA AnDL AtinA meriCALatinAmericahasin recent years become increas-ingly closer to China through trade and finance. In June, a1000 Foust Rd., Brownsville, TX 78521(956) 831-45921-800-378-5395paperpreparedbytheCSRportofbrownsville.com(Congressional Research Ser-'