China loses space and stops being Argentina’s second largest trading partner

During last year’s election campaign, Javier Milei, then a candidate for president of Argentina, declared that he would not do business with China or any other communist country. In an interview with journalist Tucker Carlson in September 2023, Milei reinforced his position, stating that he was a defender of freedom, peace and democracy, and that the Chinese would have no space in his government.

After assuming the presidency, Milei tried to clarify his position in relation to China in an interview with the Bloomberg news agency. He stated that although he is liberal and allows people to continue to do business with China, he personally would not align himself with the communists.

According to information from CNN Brasil, this stance appears to have been reflected in practice: Milei has not yet had official meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and since the beginning of his mandate on December 10, relations between the two countries have cooled.

Currently, Argentine Foreign Minister Diana Mondino is trying to adopt other approaches and is leading an international trip that includes a visit to China between April 28th and 30th. Ahead of the trip, the Chinese government also expressed its desire to “unfreeze” the relationship, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin stating that Argentina and China are “comprehensive strategic partners.”

However, one piece of information has drawn attention in the world of business and geopolitics: China stopped being Argentina’s second trading partner in March. According to the latest report on Argentine trade exchange released by the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec), the European Union now occupies this place, while China has fallen to third.

The figures show that March was the first month in 2024 in which China lost second place among Argentina’s trading partners, due to a drop in imports and exports. Sales to China fell 24.2% year-on-year, while purchases contracted 34.9% in the same period.

Since Javier Milei assumed the presidency, trade between countries has declined. In January 2024, exports rose 10.7%, but the rest of the operations showed negative results. Economist and foreign trade specialist Miguel Ponce attributes this change to the Milei government’s new orientation towards Israel and the United States.

Ponce believes that this is a trend that will deepen and insists on the need for a relationship where ideological differences are not an obstacle. He recalls that this issue is important not only from a commercial point of view, but also to resolve some disputes that Argentina has with China, such as the next due dates of the swap, a loan that arose from an agreement between the central banks of the two countries. in 2009.

To renew the commercial link, Mondino will travel with a “large delegation of businesspeople from different sectors, representatives of the exportable offer”, will participate in trade promotion events in Beijing and Shanghai, and will have meetings with investors. It remains to be seen whether the latest gestures of détente – or reality, such as the financial need for Chinese exchange – will prevail over President Milei’s desires not to have relations with countries he considers “communist”.