Insight Americas

The Pacific Corridor-Puerto Exterior and the New Contest for Latin America’s Logistics Infrastructure

Chile's US$4.45 billion Puerto Exterior project has become the latest battleground in the competition for Latin America's strategic infrastructure. As Chinese state-backed enterprises, European consortia, and Asian industrial giants vie for influence, the project reveals a critical reality: the future of regional logistics will be determined not only by capital and engineering expertise, but by governance, sovereignty, and the ability of Western powers to translate geopolitical concerns into coordinated commercial action.

June 9, 2026

Chile-Regulatory & Investment Landscape for Lithium

Chile holds approximately 40% of global lithium reserves, primarily concentrated in the Salar de Atacama, making it one of the most strategically important lithium deposits globally. Lithium in the Atacama, as in many other places, exists not in hard rock but dissolved in ancient underground brines, accessed historically through large-scale pumping and slow evaporation in open ponds, a process that consumes vast volumes of water in one of the driest ecosystems on earth. The interaction between brine extraction and freshwater aquifer systems remains deeply contested, particularly among indigenous communities whose ancestral territories sit directly above these deposits.

April 17, 2026