Two key officials from the United States government are arriving in the region with an agenda combining business and security, two central pillars of Donald Trump's new security doctrine aimed at keeping outside powers from gaining a foothold in the hemisphere.
Christopher Landau, US Deputy Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, is heading a tour running from October 19 to 26 that includes Paraguay and Argentina, two key destinations in the regional network of alliances cultivated by the MAGA leader.
Landau is one of the senior US diplomats responsible for promoting US interests in Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada. After appearing alongside Pablo Quirno in New York, where the duo signed the Andes-Atlantic Corridor infrastructure agreement, the official will arrive in the Southern Cone accompanied by Juan Pablo Segura, an Argentine-born businessman appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the region last August.
The Trump administration's envoys will begin their tour in Asunción, where Santiago Peña has emerged as a leading proponent of the policy of "containing Chinese interference" advocated by officials and diplomats in the Trump administration.
The date of their arrival in Buenos Aires was announced through official Casa Rosada channels on Sunday: the Republican officials will meet Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno at the San Martín Palace in Buenos Aires at 2pm next Thursday.
According to a State Department statement, Landau will meet with "senior Argentine government officials and private-sector leaders."
Landau is not expected to meet President Javier Milei, who is due to arrive in Spain on October 21, according to presidential spokesperson Adrián Ravier. While in Europe, Milei plans to continue strengthening ties with his conservative international allies ahead of the elections called by Pedro Sánchez for November.
Momentum
Beyond the individual appointments, US officials intend to "build on the momentum" generated by the launch of the Andes-Atlantic Corridor between the United States and Argentina. They will seek "ways to drive economic growth, increase US investment and strengthen security cooperation." with a particular focus on "narcoterrorism" as a "threat to countries' sovereignty," Segura said in an interview with El Observador, days before setting off for the Southern Cone.
"One of the strongest tools the United States has is economic power. We are seeing that in Argentina," said Segura, the businessman and son of Argentine immigrants.
In Buenos Aires, the starting point is the Andes-Atlantic Corridor, an initiative announced on September 23 during the latest United Nations General Assembly. Framed within the US strategic competition with China, the initiative envisages US investment in railways, waterways, ports, oil pipelines and energy infrastructure, with Vaca Muerta's shale reserves and the mining sector at its core.
The visit comes amid exceptionally close relations between Washington and the Casa Rosada, underscored by another trip by Milei, who has just returned from his second visit to the United States in a month.
During a stay IN THE US of just 36 hours, he received the US Chamber of Commerce's "World Champion of Free Enterprise" award. Although he failed to secure a photograph with Trump, he highlighted having spoken by telephone with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Argentina's head of state also attended a gala organised by La Derecha Diario and the Heritage Foundation, the controversial think tank behind the so-called Project 2025, which envisages a "conservative revolution" in the United States and has links to US Vice-President JD Vance.
Vance visit
Following the US midterm elections on November 5, Vance will travel to Argentina. It would be the first visit by a US vice-president since Mike Pence's trip in April 2017.
The Casa Rosada has confirmed that it would be "a regional visit," potentially taking place in the third week of November, according to reports that have yet to be confirmed by the White House.
Meanwhile, the National Security Ministry announced on October 5 that the United States had approved US$13.35 million in funding and that a regional unit of the State Department's anti-narcotics office would be established in Argentina, without providing further details about its operations. Of the total, US$7.5 million will go towards projects in Argentina, with the remainder allocated to "regional initiatives", increasing current cooperation tenfold.
For Washington, all these moves form part of the same strategy. Landau's visits, according to the US State Department, "reflect the Trump administration's commitment to a safe, secure and prosperous Western Hemisphere."
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