Silk Road: Colombia's top sellers to China, which account for only a 10th of purchases.

On May 12 , President Gustavo Petro announced that Colombia would sign its adhesion to China's Silk Road, a decision that has raised multiple questions in the country because it appears to be inappropriate.

The Silk Road is a global strategy promoted by China since 2013, which seeks to improve connectivity and cooperation between Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin America through infrastructure, trade, investment, and technological innovation projects.

However, Andi president Bruce Mac Master asserts that it is a "big mistake" for Colombia to make this decision because national industries "are in danger."

China is the world's largest industrial producer and excels in the manufacture of automobiles, motorcycles, batteries, and plastics, for example. This is why Colombian industries could be at risk.

"If you have to compete with an industry that has different conditions and is of that size, it will almost certainly end up disappearing. That's the big concern in the Colombian case," said Bruce MacMaster.

In this sense, it is questionable whether Colombia will be able to maintain its industry, jobs, and economy if products manufactured under questionable conditions in many countries around the world are flooded into the country.

"It's important to remember that China has the largest number of unfair trade investigations in the United States, but also in Colombia and other countries," said the Andi president.

Another concern about Colombia's entry into the Silk Road is that this decision could be considered an "unnecessary provocation" to the United States, its main trading partner, which is currently engaged in a tariff war with China.

While the United States purchased more than $14.3 billion worth of products from Colombia in 2024, exports to China totaled only $2.377 billion.

Meanwhile, in the first months of 2025 (January-March), $505 million worth of products were exported to the Asian giant, compared to $3.58 billion sold to the United States.

Colombia's largest exporter of oil to China this year has been oil, worth over $312 million. This is followed by exports of cast iron, iron, and steel, worth $52.7 million.

Other products exported to China are:

Regarding imports, the picture is completely different, as this year Colombia has purchased almost 10 times what it sold from China, according to data revealed by the National Statistics Institute (DANE).

While exports to the Asian giant totaled $302 million between January and February, imports totaled $2.937 billion, mainly from:

In 2024, Colombia exported just $2.377 billion to China, while importing $15.936 billion, resulting in a negative trade balance of more than $13.5 billion.

Javier Díaz, president of the National Association of Foreign Trade (Analdex), said this situation could affect Colombia's export relations, as well as its trade defense mechanisms.

"China is interested in its exports, but it's not clear what we gain from this initiative. The Asian country primarily buys raw materials, oil, coal, ferronickel, and we'd have to review what they're offering to buy. For example, coffee is subject to tariffs, and we don't know how it will be treated," he said.

Additionally, he emphasized that the admissibility of Colombian agricultural products in this country has been very complicated, so this should be a point to review before entering the Silk Road.