Seasons greetings from the southern hemisphere summer, where amid the pandemic the small South American nation of Uruguay has been hard at work hammering out a free trade deal with China.  

Beijing is Uruguay’s main buyer, accounting for a third of all exports. Driving down the streets of the capital, Montevideo, you’re more likely to spot a Chinese-made BYD than a Mercedes-Benz. Meat, grains and wool are the main goods shipped east, in exchange for cars, chemicals and industrial machinery. Uruguayan exporters have been keen to broker the sort of deal New Zealand has with the world’s second-largest economy, gaining preferential access to the Chinese market as a quality food supplier. Demand for superior cuts of Uruguayan beef doubled year on year in 2019, ahead of the pandemic. Bilateral trade between the two nations reached $2.9bn last year, 16 times greater than in 2001, when China joined the World Trade Organization.

Today’s main piece delves into the relationship and charts the story of Montevideo’s bid to cement its burgeoning relationship with Beijing. We also ask what the broader implications are for trading relationships with its neighbours closer to home.