Hopes for the positive effects of nearshoring were high, but the reality so far has been different. Western companies are hardly relocating, but China is seizing the opportunity.

Brazil is becoming the blueprint for expansion in the industrial value chains and in R&D. This is competition for Western companies in particular.

The country continues to rely on an investment boom due to the decoupling of the USA from China. The potential has only been partially exploited.

A free trade zone has just been agreed with Singapore and Uruguay wants to open up to China, while the EU and EFTA are holding back.

In the current confrontation of China and Russia with the West, South America could move away from Europe.