“Peru's New Leftist President Prioritizes China Ties During Early Days in Office” – 5 August 2021

In his first week in office, Peru's new left-wing administration under President Pedro Castillo has been quick to extend a friendly hand to China, the Andean nation's most important commercial partner and the main buyer of its copper, a crucial source of tax revenue…Since Castillo was inaugurated on July 28, administration officials have met with the Chinese ambassador and Chinese mining executives to discuss not just policies for their industry but also to strengthen a previous free trade agreement first signed in 2009, government sources told Reuters…In addition to China, Peru also has a free trade agreement with the U.S. and has been considered for decades a U.S. ally…Mining tax policy will be crucial to China, whose companies are important copper miners in Peru, the world's No. 2 producer of the metal…Pablo de la Flor, who heads the National Society of Mining, Oil and Energy. said miners who enjoyed tax stability deals included China's MMG Ltd and Chinalco's Aluminium Corp and that the topic was likely to have come up.