Formation of Alliance:

It has been observed that unlike European countries, Latin American (LA) countries have
not succeeded in formation of strong alliance like European Union. The sole purpose of
such alliance is to increase the market size and increase the competitiveness among the
countries. One of the vital reasons for success of alliance like EU is that most of the
participating countries have similarities in terms of standard of living, culture,
economical status etc. On the contrary, when it comes to LA countries, it seems a tough
nut to crack to establish successful unions or alliance among countries due to
differences in natural resources, per capita income, culture and due to disrespect for
other countries.
Suggestion for future action: Leading countries in LA like Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Chile
should take the initiative of creating strong alliance while keeping out the other
disturbing countries. After they set the trend by generating strong growth for the union,
other smaller countries will get attracted to join the union which will benefit Argentina
and other countries of LA.
Trade Relations:
Due to the absence of effective trade union in LA, Argentina has been focusing its exports in
EU (European Union). In fact, after Brazil EU is the second largest export market for
Argentina. Moreover half of the FDI in Argentina is from EU (EU investment stocks were
worth 44.2 billion in 2011)


Suggestions for future:
As Argentina has been successful in maintaining good trade relationships with EU, it can
focus on similar trade relations with the countries in LA. From the above data, it is obvious
that trade balance is positive in case of services where as it is negative in case of goods.
Hence, Argentina should focus on increasing exports of goods.
Argentina-Brazil Relationship:

Brazil is the largest export market for Argentina. From the figure, it is evident that over
the years the bilateral exports has been increasing. In future, Argentina should try to
keep similar trade relations with other potential nations in LA.
Even though there is rivalry and historical suspicions regarding nuclear weapon
development, Brazil's policies during the most difficult period of Argentina's recent
history (near-conflict with Chile and the Falklands War) were fundamental in building
trust between the two countries.
Argentina-Chile relations:
Argentina and Chile share the third-longest international border, which is 5300 km long.
During 20th century, relations between the countries got affected due to disputes over
Patagonia, though recent years have shown dramatic improvement in relationship.
Maipu Treaty of Integration and Cooperation was signed on 30
th
October 2009
between the countries for peace and friendship. It seems that the positive impact of the
agreement will follow in future years.
Argentina US relations:
US is Argentina's 4
th
largest export market and 3
rd
largest source of imports (mainly
industrial supplies such as machinery and chemicals).
Argentine public opinion regarding US foreign policies was sceptical and it improved
during Obama administration.
In future, it seems that there will be decent bilateral relationship between the two
nations as both have common strategic interests like counternarcotics,
counterterrorism, the fight against human trafficking as well as the strength of
commercial ties.