Argentina and the great Asian emerging countries: analysis of political and commercial relations with China and India

Abstract

During the last decades, Latin America experienced sustained growth in its trade with Asia. In the case of Argentina, the trade balance accounts for the significant weight of Asia Pacific in exports: China and India consolidated themselves as Argentina’s 2nd and 4th export destination in 2021. In the case of Beijing, which is consecrated as the second trading partner, Argentina has maintained a deficit balance since 2008. In this context, the growing link with other Asian countries with which it also shares a high economic complementarity, allows the design of a more balanced insertion strategy in Asia Pacific. In this way, the negative balances are offset by the trade surpluses that Argentina maintains with countries in the region such as Vietnam (3,220 million dollars), Indonesia (1,862 million) and India (4,293) million) (UN COMTRADE, 2022). Regarding the latter, bilateral trade recorded a record high in 2021, reaching a total of 5,686 million dollars (UN COMTRADE, 2022). At the same time, bilateral political-diplomatic relations are experiencing increasing development, establishing as both emerging Asian Strategic Associations from the 21st century, which project ties in the long term and expand the spheres of cooperation. This paper will analyze the main characteristics of Argentina’s political ties and trade relations with China and India.