Despite political instability and antagonistic rhetoric from the Trump administration, US investment in Latin America has boomed. This is not due to traditional economic incentives but is a strategic countermove to China's established presence, turning the region into a financial battleground for global powers.
The skyrocketing price of a staple meal in Nigeria is primarily due to internal factors like high diesel costs for transportation and poor road infrastructure. These domestic logistical challenges have a greater impact on food affordability for locally farmed ingredients than global commodity prices.
The recent surge of US investment in Latin America, while triggered by geopolitics, was only possible because of decades of financial stabilization. Widespread adoption of floating currencies and inflation targeting built investor confidence, making the region an attractive destination for capital once a new catalyst emerged.
Counterintuitively, Ghana's greater dependence on imported food ingredients, combined with a strengthening currency, has shielded it from the severe food price inflation hitting Nigeria. Nigeria's reliance on locally farmed goods makes its consumers more vulnerable to domestic logistical failures and rising fuel costs.
The US government's investment push into Latin American rare earth mining is driven by a desire to counter China's market dominance, not by pure demand. Since the global market for some of these elements is relatively small, a few new mines could create a supply glut, leaving later private investors with stranded assets.