Who trades with whom not up to US to decide

Since its inception in 1994, the Summit of the Americas has been a venue for the United States and Latin American nations to sort out intra-America concerns, most noticeably US-Latin America trade.

And "fair and reciprocal trade" is expected to command the limelight at the Friday-Saturday gathering in Lima, Peru. Yet a parallel priority on the US delegation's agenda, according to the White House, is to "push back against external economic aggression".

It did not bother to elaborate. But no elaboration is needed. As former US secretary of state Rex Tillerson made it crystal clear on his first, also last, official visit to the region in February, Washington is worried about the growing Chinese economic presence in what it still considers to be its backyard.