China and El Salvador will start free trade agreement talks “as soon as possible,” it was announced during an event in San Salvador on Wednesday, prompting concern in Washington, which apparently does not want Chinese influence to take root and ground. to Central America.

Four years ago, in 2018, El Salvador severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan to strengthen relations with Beijing.

Since then, the Central American country has joined China’s ambitious One Belt, One Road project, with Beijing announcing plans to invest in a number of infrastructure projects in San Salvador and other cities and even voicing its willingness to purchase some of the country’s external debt.

For his part, however, Salvador’s 41-year-old – unconventional, populist – President Naguib Bukele needs as much foreign financial assistance as he can get at this stage. The “bet” on “investing” in the cryptocurrency market, which he made a bet on, not only did not pay off, but now he has lost money. On Wednesday, he said, accompanied by the Chinese ambassador, that a trade deal with Beijing is now “very important” for El Salvador because of China’s economic power.