Latin America

A cargo ship passes through the locks on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal. It takes 10 days longer to ship gas from the U.S. to Japan without using the canal.
Energy

Panama Canal toll hike looms as new East Asian energy risk

Japan braces for higher import costs of household fuel LPG

27 August 2022
Monica Duhem Delgado, head of the Secretariat of Economy's global economic intelligence unit, says officials are working on incentives to bring chip companies to Mexico.
Interview

CHIPS Act will help boost semiconductor investment in Mexico: official

Intel and Texas Instruments 'express interest' in possible expansion

14 August 2022
Bananas are displayed at a shop in Halle, Belgium. Eaten across the world, the fruit is grown in the tropics, from Southeast Asia to Latin America.
Agriculture

Banana growers fight renewed extinction risk as lethal fungus spreads

Resurgence of Panama disease threatens one of world's most valuable crops

8 August 2022
Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves seeks to export more to Asia.
Indo-Pacific

Costa Rica wants to join CPTPP, president says

Other Latin American countries also seek to expand trade in Asia

30 July 2022
Itochu and Shell are teaming up with a Brazilian conglomerate to try to clean up the mining industry, which currently accounts for about 30% of the world's CO2 emissions. (Source photos by Reuters)
Climate Change

Itochu ties up with Shell to bring green tech to Brazil mines

Japan trading house, British oil major sign MOU with Brazilian steelmaker CSN

29 July 2022
Daikin's factory in suburban Houston. The U.S. is expected to phase in tougher energy efficiency regulations for air conditioners under President Joe Biden.
Climate Change

Daikin to build $230m plant for energy-saving A/Cs in Mexico

Japanese manufacturer expands capacity to meet rising U.S. demand

23 July 2022
Xi Jinping hosts the 14th BRICS summit via video link in Beijing on June 23: Countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Argentina have expressed interest in joining the club of five.
Opinion

Ukraine war divides Western alliance from the Global South

BRICS nations have long aspired to a new world order

8 July 2022
Mexico is becoming the new place to go for Chinese manufacturers looking to relocate from the mainland.
Caixin

In Depth: How Chinese factories are finding their way to Mexico

Proximity to U.S., low-cost labor and tax incentives boost investment

2 July 2022
Embraer conducts final assembly of its passenger jets in a large hangar in Sao Jose dos Campos. As many as six jets can be accommodated in one hangar. (Photo courtesy of Embraer)
Business Spotlight

Can Brazil's aerospace champion Embraer conquer Asia?

Regional jet maker eyes India, Vietnam and beyond. Competitors have other ideas

24 June 2022
A CCTV news broadcast of Chinese President Xi Jinping shows him speaking during a BRICS event on June 23.
International relations

Xi rallies BRICS against sanctions 'abuse,' Cold War mentality

Putin accuses countries of using 'financial mechanisms' to shift their mistakes on the world

24 June 2022
National flags of the BRICS nations: Member countries in the group are becoming less and less like-minded.
Opinion

BRICS shows its usefulness, despite clear limitations

Emerging economy bloc serves its members in different ways

23 June 2022
Russian soldiers guard fields of wheat in the southeast Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia on June 14: The current economic crisis is not mainly linked to an excess of demand but to insufficiency of supply.
Opinion

Inflation functions as a tax on the weakest

Serious shortages are taking hold of the essential elements of life

22 June 2022
A view of Volcan de Agua, a volcano in Guatemala. The Central American nation is among 14 that recognize Taiwan as a sovereign country.
Interview

Guatemala foreign minister vows to maintain Taiwan ties

Central American nation focused on working with U.S. on immigration and economy

22 June 2022
A satellite image of the Boden Creek project site. Carbon credit trades based on forest conservation efforts sometimes rely on faulty project information.
Climate Change

'Ghost' carbon credits still alive despite end of forest project

Out-of-date database undermines battle against CO2: Nikkei investigation

11 June 2022
The Sonora lithium deposit stands to be Mexico's largest. (Courtesy of Bacanora Lithium)
Materials

Mexican president eases pressure on China's Ganfeng Lithium

Obrador says mining concession 'will be respected' if it passes review

7 June 2022
Artifacts found in the wreckage of the Spanish galleon San Jose are seen in a picture released on June 6. (Colombian Presidency/Handout via REUTERS)
Arts

Colombia discovers two historical shipwrecks in Caribbean

Sites near galleon that sank in 1708 with treasure worth billions in today's dollars

7 June 2022
Leonardo Villar, the governor of Colombia's central bank, speaks with Nikkei in Bogota. (Photo by Hidetake Miyamoto)
Interview

Colombian central bank chief sounds alarm over U.S. rate hikes

Leonardo Villar hints at another rate increase in June to tame 'very strong inflation'

2 June 2022
Chancay's bay, seen here in 2021, provides a natural 16-meter deep harbor which will enable the port to handle the world's largest container ships. (Courtesy COSCO Shipping Ports)
Transportation

COSCO plants its flag in South America with $3bn Peruvian port

Chinese state shipping conglomerate seeks to build new Belt and Road hub

16 May 2022
President of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo shakes hands with Xi Jinping in Beijing in September 2018: China is moving directly into America's own backyard.
Opinion

China's Atlantic pearl compounds U.S. fears after Solomons setback

A naval base in Equatorial Guinea would be a calamity for Washington

30 April 2022
Workers look out over an open pit copper mine in Antofagasta, Chile.
Materials

Global scramble for copper spurs Marubeni, Mitsubishi to dig deep

Japanese trading houses expand mining as EVs and wind turbines boost demand

30 March 2022
COVID-19 testing near Rennes, France: The country is one of a handful of European states to have detected cases of a hybrid variant combining delta and omicron.
Coronavirus

'Deltacron' variant: 5 things to know as experts downplay danger

Early signs suggest scarily nicknamed COVID hybrid unlikely to pose unique risk

19 March 2022
A woman in Sao Paulo receives a COVID-19 vaccine: Brazil's health minister has said measures used to fight earlier versions of the virus, such as booster vaccinations, are effective against the new variant.
Coronavirus

New COVID-19 'deltacron' variant confirmed in Brazil

Mixed variant has traits of delta and omicron, but details still scarce

16 March 2022
Hydrofluoric acid is used in the etching process for semiconductors.
Semiconductors

Daikin tech helps cut China reliance for chipmaking material

Purifying process developed for mineral used in etching chemical, HCFC refrigerant

9 March 2022
Taliban forces ride in a car in Kabul in November 2021: the extremist government will struggle to stop the local Islamic State affiliate from drawing in militants to settle in ungoverned expanses of the country.
Opinion

Expect the world's ungoverned places to export instability

Outside actors prove increasingly reluctant to intervene

22 February 2022
 An Ecuadorian flag bearer during the Winter Games opening ceremony in Beijing. Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Feb. 4.
6 February 2022