New Globaliser in the Hood

During most of the 19th century, the UK was the primary driver of economic globalisation in Brazil. In the early 20th century, the US surpassed the British as Brazil’s main economic partner. Since 2009, China has become Brazil’s most important trade partner. Nowadays, Washington pushes for deglobalisation, while Beijing paves the way to reinforce globalisation. Accordingly, the global interconnection of the Brazilian economy increasingly depends on China. This article analyses how China is globalising the Brazilian economy, comparing this case with how the UK and the US did it in the past. The analysis considers indicators on trade and investment patterns. Both globalisation theory and the new theory of globalisers guide this study.