As an international business attorney based in Miami, Florida, it’s common for me to advise clients on business issues that concern Latin America by virtue of Miami’s proximity to the region.
It’s no surprise that the local economy is heavily dependent on Latin America. To be sure, Miami is the hemispheric cross-roads of trade and commerce—a kind of Hong Kong of the Americas.
In an article befitting this description, international business reporter for the Miami Herald, Mimi Whitefiled recently wrote about a Chinese-based outpost that’s giving the Miami business community an added boost.
In the article, From China to Brazil, South Florida Trade Spans the Globe, Whitefield profiles Miami’s China Sourcing Center and its recent selection as the American representative at the Canton fair, China’s largest export showcase. The China Sourcing Center is a local subsidiary of Globelink China Logistics, one of the largest logistics companies in China.
As Whitefield explains, the China Sourcing Center was established to “serve as a bridge between Chinese manufacturers and Latin America buyers. The idea was that Latin executives could come to Miami, view Chinese products at China Sourcing’s [Miami Free Zone’s] showroom, place orders and avoid a 36-hour trip to China.”
While only open for seven months, about 80 percent of China Sourcing’s business has been with Latin American buyers but U.S. companies also have placed orders. With China-Latin America trade amounting to $140 billion, Miami is sure to benefit from Globelink China Logistic’s’s new outpost in the hemisphere.
For more information on Miami’s China Sourcing Center, please visit their website.
-Santiago