After Luo Zhaohui, China’s incoming ambassador to Canada, labeled Canada’s foreign investment rules as “negative” and called for “some kind of changes” to the nation’s trade policy, Hugh Stephens examines why bilateral trade relations have declined and what Canada and the United States can do to promote greater investment from China.

Trade between Brazil and China has flourished over the past decade. However, the current trade relationship may be disrupted as Brazil recognizes the benefits of adding value along its supply chain, giving way to more opportunities for the United States to build upon its economic relationship with Latin America’s largest emerging market.

Following the Community of Latin American and Carribean States (CELAC) summit held in Havana, Cuba at the end of January, Fernando Menéndez analyzes two potential paths for Latin America’s development and explores China’s future role in the region.

As news that the United States has become the largest recipient of Chinese investment spreads, many Americans are nervous and wonder where that money is going. Interestingly, the U.S. draws a significant amount of private investment from China, which is distinctly different from the country’s investment patterns in the rest of the world.

Steven Hill follows the Chinese money-trail to the United States and concludes that in 2014 wealthy Chinese investors will be on the hunt, and that weakened advanced economies like in the U.S. and Europe are prime targets.

As inward FDI in Latin America and the Caribbean reached an all time high in 2011 with total inflows of $153 billion in 2011, China continues to increase its investments in the region. Fernando Menéndez explains that rather than focusing on increased competition, the US and China should collaborate so both nations may benefit from the region’s booming economies.

While China’s investments abroad were vastly state-led, private firms are increasingly looking to the United States for expansion. As Dan Redford points out, high profile purchases by Chinese firms are just the beginning of a new trend of private investment from China.