Argentina–United States relations

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Argentine–American relations
Map indicating locations of USA and Argentina

United States

Argentina
Diplomatic mission
Embassy of the United States, Buenos AiresEmbassy of Argentina, Washington, D.C.
Envoy
American Ambassador to Argentina Marc StanleyArgentine Ambassador to the United States Gerardo Werthein
The Obelisco (left) and the Washington Monument (right), iconic symbols of both Buenos Aires and Washington
.

Argentina and the United States have maintained bilateral relations since the United States formally recognized the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, the predecessor to Argentina, on January 27, 1823.

Relations were severely strained in the era of World War II, when Argentina refused to declare war on Nazi Germany, and became the only Latin American nation not to receive American aid. Relations continued to be difficult when the Perons were in power. Relations were strained in 1982 after the US supported the United Kingdom against Argentina. Since 1998, Argentina has been a major non-NATO ally, partly owing to Argentina's assistance to the United States in the Gulf War. Relations have been strained at times over the past few years, especially during the Cristina Fernández de Kirchner administration, but they improved during the presidency of Mauricio Macri (2015 - 2019).

Country comparison

 Argentine Republic  United States of America
Flag Argentina United States
Coat of Arms
Anthem Himno Nacional Argentino
Star-Spangled Banner
Capital city Buenos Aires Washington, D.C.
Largest city Buenos Aires – 2,891,082 (15,594,428 Metro) New York City – 8,491,079 (20,092,883 Metro)
Established May 25, 1810 July 4, 1776
Government Federal presidential constitutional republic Federal presidential constitutional republic
First leader Cornelio Saavedra George Washington
Current leader Javier Milei Joe Biden
Main language Spanish English
Main religions 78.6%
Christianity (69% Roman Catholic, 12.3% Protestantism, 1.4% Other Christian), 23.9% Non-Religious
, 1.5% Other
63%
Roman Catholicism, 1% other), 29% Non-Religious, 2% Jewish, 1% Islam, 1% Buddhism, 1% Hindus
, 3% Other
Ethnic groups 85%
Indigenous Argentines[1]
60.1%
two or more races[2]
Current Constitution 1 May 1853
June 21, 1788
Area 2,780,400 km2 (1,073,500 sq mi) 9,629,091 km2 (3,717,813 sq mi)
Population 44,938,712 324,894,500
Population density 14.4/km2 (37.3/sq mi) 34.2/km2 (83.2/sq mi)
GDP (nominal) US$444.458 billion $17.528 trillion
GDP (nominal) per capita US$9,890 $54,980
GDP (PPP) $1.033 trillion $17.528 trillion
GDP (PPP) per capita US$22,997 $54,980
Time zones 1 11

History

After Argentina became independent from Spanish rule, the United States formally recognized the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, the legal predecessor to Argentina, on January 27, 1823. The bilateral relations have seesawed over the last century and a half between periods of greater cooperation and periods of tension over ideology and finance. There has never been a threat of war.[3]

Argentine leaders were disappointed when the American government refused to invoke the Monroe Doctrine during instances such as the British establishment of a colony on the Falkland Islands, or during the Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata.

In 1833 US Navy shells the Falkland Islands, at the time under Argentine control, in retaliation for the seizing of American ships fishing in Argentine waters. The new constitution of 1853 was based in part on the American Constitution. In 1853, a commercial treaty was concluded between the two nations.[4]

1870–1930

Argentina was closely linked to the British economy in the late 19th century; and as such there was minimal contact with the United States. When the United States began promoting the Pan American Union, some Argentines were suspicious that it was indeed a device to lure the country into the US economic orbit, but most businessmen responded favorably and bilateral trade grew briskly after the United States and did care of duties on Argentine wool in 1893.

Relations soured when Argentina refused to join the

First World War. Argentina had large British and German populations and both countries had made large-scale investments in Argentina. However, as a prosperous neutral it greatly expanded trade with the United States during the war and exported meat, grain and wool to the Allies particularly to Britain, providing generous loans and becoming a net creditor to the Allied side, a policy known as "benevolent neutrality".[5]

1940s

Argentina's policy during the

Franklin Roosevelt for both countries to join the Allies together as non-belligerents in 1940. However his proposal was snubbed at the time, as Roosevelt was trying to get re-elected.[5]

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, US foreign policy worked to unite all of Latin America in a coalition against Germany, but Argentina's neutralist stance had hardened since the resignation of Ortiz who resigned because of poor health. The United States worked to pressure Argentina into the war against the wishes of Britain, which supported Argentine neutrality in an effort to maintain vital provisions of beef and wheat to the Allies that were safe from German U-boat attacks.[5] Most of the beef and the wheat consumed in Britain came from Argentina.[6]

US policy backfired after the military seized power in a coup in 1943. Relations grew worse, prompting the powerful US farm lobby to promote the economic and diplomatic isolation of Argentina and attempt to keep it out of the United Nations. The policy was reversed when Argentina became the last Latin American nation to declare war on Germany in March 1945. Argentina had hosted a fairly-organized pro-German element before the war that had been controlled by German ambassadors. It operated openly, unlike in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. Historians[7] agree that the affinity between Argentina and Germany was greatly exaggerated.[8]

The Argentine government remained neutral until the closing weeks of the war and after the war quietly tolerated and in some cases aided the entry of German scientists and some notable war criminals including

fascist sympathies, tried to remain neutral in the Cold War and continued to harbor Nazi war criminals. Washington blocked funds from international agencies and restricted trade and investment opportunities.[12] Meanwhile Peron championed Anti-Americanism across Latin America, and financed radical elements in other countries. He did not, however, support the USSR in the Cold War.[13]

1955-1980s

After Perón was ousted in 1955, relations improved dramatically. President Arturo Frondizi became the first Argentine president to visit the United States in 1959. Argentina provided support for the American Alliance for Progress, the American invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1965, and the isolation of Cuba after 1960.[14]

By 1976, US human rights groups were denouncing the "

Ford administration, written and supported by Henry Kissinger, to grant $50,000,000 in security assistance to the junta.[17]

In 1977 and 1978, the United States sold more than $120,000,000 in spare military parts to Argentina, and in 1977, the Department of Defense granted $700,000 to train 217 Argentine military officers.[18] By the mid-1970s, when détente with the Soviets softened anti-communism and President Jimmy Carter highlighted issues of human rights, US activists escalated their attacks and in 1978 secured a congressional cutoff of all US arms transfers to Argentina.[19] Argentina then turned largely to Israel for weapons sales.

Relations were strained after the US supported the United Kingdom on the Falklands Wars.

American-Argentine relations improved dramatically under the

CIA collaboration with the Argentine intelligence service in arming and training the Nicaraguan Contras against the Sandinista government. The 601 Intelligence Battalion, for example, trained Contras at Lepaterique base, in Honduras.[20] Argentina also provided security advisors, intelligence training and some material support to forces in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to suppress local rebel groups as part of a US-sponsored program, Operation Charly
.

Argentine military and intelligence co-operation with the Reagan administration ended in 1982, when Argentina seized the

.

US President George W. Bush and Argentine President Nestor Kirchner during the 2005 Summit of the Americas, in Mar del Plata, Argentina

The US has a positive bilateral relationship with Argentina based on many common strategic interests, including

US government designated Argentina as a major non-NATO ally
in January 1998.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Argentine Ministry of Defense hold an annual Bilateral Working Group Meeting, alternating between Argentina and Washington, DC. Also, both nations exchange information through alternating annual joint staff talks, military educational exchanges, and operational officer exchange billets. Argentina is a participant in the Three-Plus-One regional mechanism (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and the US), which focuses on the co-ordination of counterterrorism policies in the triborder region.[21]

Argentina has endorsed the

Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering highlighted Argentine legislation passed during 2013 issuing new regulations strengthening suspicious transaction reporting requirements.[22] Currently, the US holds a position of neutrality on the issue of the ownership of the Falkland Islands. It acknowledges the de facto British control of the Falklands but has no position on the sovereignty claim over the islands.[23]

Trade and investment

US President Barack Obama and Argentine President Mauricio Macri in March 2016.
The US delivers COVID vaccines to Argentina through the COVAX program in 2021

U.S.-Argentine cooperation also includes science and technology initiatives in the fields of space, peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and the environment. In June 2007, the U.S. and Argentina modernized a bilateral civil aviation agreement to update safety and security safeguards and allow a significant increase in flight frequencies between the two countries, which hold excellent potential for increased tourism and business travel. An active media, together with widespread interest in culture and society from the US, make Argentina a receptive environment for the information and cultural exchange work of the U.S. Embassy. The Fulbright scholarship program has more than tripled the annual number of U.S. and Argentine academic grantees since 1994, and the U.S. Embassy is actively working to increase other education exchanges.

The stock of U.S. investment in Argentina reached $13.3 billion in 2011, 14% of all foreign direct investment in Argentina at the time and second only to Spain. U.S. investment in Argentina is concentrated in the energy, manufacturing, information technology, and financial sectors. US-based firms comprised nearly 1/3 of the 100 most respected companies in Argentina published annually by Argentina's largest newspaper, Clarín.[24]

The United States is Argentina's fourth-largest export market (mainly energy staples, steel, and wine), and third-largest source of imports (mainly industrial supplies such as chemicals and machinery).[25] Argentina itself is a relatively minor trade partner for the United States, its imports from the U.S. of $9.9 billion making up 0.7% of total U.S. exports and its exports to the U.S. of $4.5 billion only 0.2% of U.S. imports; Argentina however is among the few nations with which the United States routinely maintains significant merchandise trade surpluses,[26] and the $5.4 billion surplus with Argentina in 2011 was the tenth-largest for the U.S. in the world.[27] The U.S. earned a further $4.1 billion surplus in trade in services with Argentina in 2011.[28] A record 690,000 Argentine nationals visited the United States in 2013, making Argentina the 15th largest source of foreign tourism into the U.S.[29]

In 2012 Argentina requested the assistance of the World Trade Organization in hosting consultations to discuss the United States ban on Argentine lemons.

Public opinion

In 2005, Argentina was labelled as "the most anti-American country in the entire Western Hemisphere."

U.S. foreign policy at the time. According to the U.S. Global Leadership Report, only 19% of Argentines approved of U.S. foreign policy, the lowest rating for any surveyed country in the Americas.[31][32]

Argentine public opinion of the U.S. and its policies improved during the

Obama administration, in 2010 was divided about evenly (42% to 41%) between those who approve or disapprove. As of 2015, Argentine views of the United States' policies are evenly divided with 43% of Argentines having a favorable view and 43% having an unfavorable view.[33]

U.S. Embassy functions

US Ambassador Residence in Buenos Aires

The U.S. Mission in Buenos Aires carries out the traditional diplomatic function of representing the U.S. Government and people in discussions with the Argentine Government, and more generally, in relations with the people of Argentina. The Embassy is focused on increasing people-to-people contacts, and promoting outreach and exchanges on a wide range of issues.

Political, economic, and science officers deal directly with the Argentine Government in advancing U.S. interests but are also available to brief U.S. citizens on general conditions in the country. Officers from the

work closely with the hundreds of U.S. companies that do business in Argentina, providing information on Argentine trade and industry regulations and assisting U.S. companies starting or maintaining business ventures in Argentina.

Consular section

President Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, First Lady Melania Trump and US Ambassador to Argentina Edward Prado in the US Embassy in Buenos Aires.

The embassy's Consular Section monitors the welfare and whereabouts of more than 20,000 U.S. citizen residents of Argentina and more than 250,000 U.S. tourists each year.

Consular personnel also provide US citizens help regarding passports, voting, Social Security, and other services. With the end of Argentine participation in the Visa Waiver Program in February 2002, Argentine tourists, students, and those who seek to work in the United States must have nonimmigrant visas. The Consular Section processes non-immigrant visa applications for persons who wish to visit the United States for tourism, studies, temporary work, or other purposes, and immigrant visas for persons who qualify to make the United States a permanent home.

Attachés

Attaches accredited to Argentina from the

U.S. Department of Defense
is represented by the U.S. Military Group and the Defense Attache Office. These organizations ensure close military-to-military contacts, and defense and security cooperation with the armed forces of Argentina.

Principal U.S. Embassy officials

Chargé d'Affaires Tom Cooney served as acting ambassador.[34]

Ambassador of Argentina to the United States

Argentine agriculture, was appointed Ambassador to the United States by President Mauricio Macri on January 11, 2018.[35]

The post had been vacant since the April 3, 2017, resignation of

Chargé d'Affaires Sergio Pérez Gunella had served as acting ambassador in the interim.

After Alberto Fernández took office in December 2019, he designated Jorge Argüello as ambassador to the United States. Argüello's credentials were accepted in Washington, where President Donald Trump asked Argüello to tell president Fernández that "[he] can count with this President" regarding the Argentine debt with the International Monetary Fund.[37][38]

On February 22, 2020, Argüello said that he was working to pave the way for a meeting between the two presidents.[39]

Diplomatic missions

See also

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets. United States Department of State.

  1. ^ Fernández, Francisco Lizcano. "Composición Étnica de las Tres Áreas Culturales del Continente Americano al Comienzo del Siglo XXI" (PDF) (in Spanish). Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, UAEM. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
  2. ^ "2010 Census Data". U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on January 2, 2011. Retrieved March 29, 2011.
  3. ^ Joseph S. Tulchin, Argentina and the United States: A Conflicted Relationship (1990)
  4. ^ Bruce W. Jentleson and Thomas G. Paterson, eds. Encyclopedia of US foreign relations. (1997) 1:88-90.
  5. ^ a b c Carlos Escudé. "Historia General de las Relaciones Exteriores de la República Argentina". Archived from the original on May 23, 2006.
  6. .
  7. ^ Jürgen Müller, Nationalsozialismus in Lateinamerika: Die Auslandsorganisation der NSDAP in Argentinien, Brasilien, Chile und Mexiko, 1931–1945 (1997) 567pp.
  8. ^ Randall B. Woods, "Hull and Argentina: Wilsonian Diplomacy in the Age of Roosevelt," Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs (1974) 16#3 pp. 350–371 in JSTOR
  9. ^ "The 7 Most Notorious Nazis Who Escaped to South America".
  10. ^ Ronald C. Newton, The "Nazi Menace" in Argentina, 1931–1947 (Stanford U.P., 1992)
  11. ^ Daniel Stahl, "Odesa und das 'Nazigold' in Südamerika: Mythen und ihre Bedeutungen' ["Odesa and "Nazi Gold" in South America: Myths and Their Meanings"] Jahrbuch fuer Geschichte Lateinamerikas (2011) Vol. 48, pp 333–360.
  12. ^ Roger R. Trask, "Spruille Braden versus George Messersmith: World War II, the Cold War, and Argentine Policy, 1945-1947." Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 26.1 (1984): 69-95.
  13. ^ Glenn J. Dorn, "‘Bruce Plan’ and Marshall Plan: The United States's Disguised Intervention against Peronism in Argentina, 1947–1950." International History Review 21.2 (1999): 331-351.
  14. ^ Jentleson and Paterson, Encyclopedia of US foreign relations. (1997) 1:89.
  15. ^ Paul H. Lewis, Guerrillas and Generals: the ‘Dirty War’ in Argentina (Praeger, 2002)
  16. ^ Thomas C. Wright, State Terrorism in Latin America: Chile, Argentina, and International Human Rights (Rowman and Littlefield, 2007)
  17. ^ On 30th Anniversary of Argentine Coup: New Declassified Details on Repression and U.S. Support for Military Dictatorship. Gwu.edu. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  18. ^ Guest, 1990; pg. 166
  19. ^ William Michael Schmidli, "Human rights and the Cold War: the campaign to halt the Argentine 'dirty war'’", Cold war history (2012) 12#2 pp 345–365. online
  20. ^ "Los secretos de la guerra sucia continental de la dictadura", Clarín, March 24, 2006 (in Spanish)
  21. ^ "Argentina (09/06)".
  22. ^ "Improving Global AML/CFT Compliance: on-going process". FATF. February 14, 2014.
  23. ^ Pike, John. "Argentina – US Relations". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  24. ^ "Doing business in Argentina". export.gov.
  25. ^ "Argentine Foreign Trade Statistics (2011)" (PDF). INDEC.[permanent dead link]
  26. ^ "Trade in goods with Argentina". U.S. Census Bureau.
  27. ^ "Top Ten Countries with which the U.S. has a Trade Surplus". U.S. Census Bureau.
  28. ^ "U.S. international services: private services trade by area and country". BEA. Archived from the original on March 25, 2017. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  29. ^ "Argentina, entre los países que más turistas envían a EE.UU". InfoNews. May 4, 2014.
  30. ^ "Anti-American Sentiment Increases in South America | United Church of God". Ucg.org. November 6, 2005. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
  31. Gallup
  32. ^ "World Publics Reject US Role as the World Leader" (PDF). The Chicago Council on Public Affairs. December 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 20, 2013. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
  33. ^ "Argentina – Opinion of the United States". Pew Research Center. 2012.
  34. ^ "Trump nominates Edward Prado as US ambassador to Argentina". Buenos Aires Times. January 18, 2018.
  35. ^ "President appoints four ambassadors by decree". Buenos Aires Times. January 13, 2018.
  36. ^ "Renunció Lousteau". Unidiversidad. April 3, 2017.
  37. ^ Niebieskikwiat, Natasha (January 7, 2020). "El gobierno de Donald Trump aceptó a Jorge Argüello como embajador ante los Estados Unidos". Clarín (in Spanish). Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  38. ^ Mathus Ruiz, Rafael (February 6, 2020). "Trump a Jorge Argüello: "Dígale al Presidente Fernández que puede contar con este presidente"". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  39. ^ Mercado, Silvia (February 22, 2020). "El plan oficial para concretar este año la reunión entre Alberto Fernández y Donald Trump" (in Spanish). Retrieved March 1, 2020.

Further reading

  • Allison, Victoria. "White Evil: Peronist Argentina in the US Popular Imagination Since 1955," American Studies International (2004) 42#1 pp 4–48. covers 1955 to 1999
  • Bemis, Samuel Flagg. "Early Diplomatic Missions from Buenos Aires to the United States 1811–1824,"
    Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society
    (1939) 49 (1). pp 11–101.
  • Dorn, Glenn J. "‘Bruce Plan’and Marshall Plan: The United States's Disguised Intervention against Peronism in Argentina, 1947–1950." International History Review 21.2 (1999): 331-351. online
  • Fifer, Valerie. United States Perceptions of Latin America, 1850-1930: A 'New West' South of Capricorn? (Manchester U. Press, 1991). 203 pp.
  • Frank, Gary. Struggle for hegemony in South America: Argentina, Brazil, and the United States during the Second World War (Routledge, 2021).
  • Greenberg, Daniel J. "From Confrontation to Alliance: Peronist Argentina's Diplomacy with the United States, 1945–1951." Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 12#24 (1987): 1-23.
  • Lluch, Andrea. "US Companies in Argentina: Trade and Investment Patterns (1890–1930)." Journal of Evolutionary Studies in Business 4.1 (2018): 70-108. online 1:25-31 and passim.
  • Nisley, Thomas J. "You can’t force a friendship? An analysis of US/Argentine relations." International Politics 55.5 (2018): 612–630.
  • Norden, Deborah, and Roberto Russell. The United States and Argentina: Changing Relations in a Changing World (Routledge, 2002).
  • Peterson, Harold F. Argentina and the United States 1810-1960 (1964)
  • Rodriguez, Julio. "Argentinean Americans." Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 1, Gale, 2014), pp. 141–150. online
  • Russell, Roberto. "Argentina and the United States: a distant relationship," in Jorge I. Domínguez, Rafael Fernández de Castro, eds, Contemporary U.S.-Latin American Relations (2011) pp 101–23. online
  • Sheinin, David M. K. Argentina & the United States: An Alliance Contained (2006) 285pp. covers 1800 to 1999
  • Sullivan, Mark P., and Rebecca M. Nelson. Argentina: Background and US Relations (Congressional Research Service, 2016). online
  • Trask, Roger R. "Spruille Braden versus George Messersmith: World War II, the Cold War, and Argentine Policy, 1945-1947". Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 26.1 (1984): 69-95.
  • Tulchin, Joseph S. Argentina and the United States: A Conflicted Relationship (1990)
  • Whitaker, Arthur P. The United States and the southern cone: Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay (1976) online
  • Whitaker, Arthur P. The United States and Argentina (1954)
  • Woods, Randall B. "Hull and Argentina: Wilsonian Diplomacy in the Age of Roosevelt" Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 16#3 (1974) pp. 350–371 online
  • Woods, Randall Bennett. The Roosevelt Foreign-Policy Establishment and the Good Neighbor: The United States and Argentina, 1941-1945 (1979)

External links