Senior Writer
Willis Sparks
Senior Writer
Willis Sparks is a senior editor for GZERO Daily. He is also a Director in the Global Macro practice at Eurasia Group, where he has worked since 2005. He has made speeches on international politics on every continent except Antarctica. Willis holds degrees from Brown University, the Juilliard School, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris. He also holds an honorary degree from the Moscow Art Theatre School. A native of Macon, Georgia, Willis has worked as a stuntman at New York's Metropolitan Opera. As a child, he declined an opportunity to spend an afternoon riding the Great American Scream Machine, a rollercoaster, with Ronald McDonald, for money. He has never regretted that decision.
May 13, 2025
Just one day after the US and China eased their tariff war, President Xi Jinping made a play for greater influence in Washington’s own neighborhood.
Addressing asummit of Latin American leaders in Beijing, Xi pledged to deepen economic and security ties in Latin America. Taking a veiled swipe at US “bullying and hegemony”, he said he’d back Panama against US efforts to establish greater control over the Panama Canal.
As the increasingly zero-sum competition between Beijing and Washington heats up, China — which has long been Latin America’s largest trade partner — seems perfectly ready to challenge Trump close to home.
