Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken on Wednesday unveiled a new plan for countries in the Americas to boost production of semiconductors, which are critical to almost everywhere in modern industry and a sector dominated by China.
“This initiative will strengthen the ability of countries to assemble, test and package semiconductors, starting with Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica,” Blinken said as he opened a meeting with counterparts from 11 Latin American countries.
Blinken said America should play a bigger role in the global supply chain for semiconductors, which are now found in everything from cellphones to refrigerators to weapons systems.
He also called for more investment in America to promote the energy transition away from fossil fuels and recalled that it is the aforementioned goal of the 12 countries at this meeting to allocate $3 billion for infrastructure investment.
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The ministerial meeting was held as part of America’s Partnership for Economic Prosperity, a program launched by President Joe Biden two years ago.
The next summit of this forum is planned for next year in Costa Rica.
The United States is working to compete, mostly through private investment, with the huge sums of money that China is pouring into infrastructure programs in Latin America. The US says this flow of money leaves host countries with excessive debt.
The United States wants to work with countries in the region to diversify semiconductor supply chains to eliminate the world’s dependence on China for this technology.
Source: AFP