Land Deals Archives - Foreign Policy In Focus

Land Deals

Chinese Take-Over of South America?

by Sebastian Castaneda | Apr 18, 2011

In the wake of Obama’s recent tour of Latin America, media reports and commentators claimed that China has been economically outmuscling the United States in the region. The reality, however, is that Beijing’s economic presence has not come at the expense of the United States. Although Washington still maintains an overwhelming edge, its influence is decreasing. This decline will be exacerbated by Obama’s focus on boosting U.S. exports to the region rather than importing more of Latin America’s manufactured goods.

Global Land Grab

by John Feffer, Alexandra Spieldoch | Jun 18, 2009

Close to a billion people in the world are hungry, and there is growing poverty, unemployment, and displacement in the rural sector. The world community is in widespread agreement about the urgency of more investment in agriculture. The food crisis, partly characterized by unstable markets and low reserves, has led governments to seek measures to meet their food security needs more directly than through global trade. Even though this year’s harvest was good and there was some replenishment of global stocks, there’s no certainty of what markets will look like next year.