Argentina’s economic relations with China and their impact on a long-term production strategy

This article analyses how trade and investment relations between Argentina and China have evolved in the post-convertibility period. In the case of trade, Argentina’s sales to China are more concentrated in the primary sector than its exports to other countries. Chinese competition has adverse effects on Argentina’s domestic production only in specific sectors, but it has caused significant displacement of Argentine exports to Brazil. In the case of foreign direct investment, Chinese FDI is driven by a quest for natural resources and generates little productive or technological spillover. Thus, the trends of both bilateral trade and Chinese investments in Argentina (which are closely linked) in neither case are conducive to a long-term export diversification strategy.