By Eduardo Baptista, Marco Aquino, Lucinda Elliott LIMA (Reuters) -Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a week-long diplomatic blitz of South America on Thursday by inaugurating a massive deep-water port in Peru,

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Peruvian counterpart Dina Boluarte inaugurated a $1.3 billion port that could transform South American trade with Asia just as Beijing prepares for a potential trade war with the US.

The port opening in Chancay underscores China’s growing clout in a region that once looked primarily to the United States for economic opportunity.