> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # America Built Its First Trade Corridor in This Hemisphere. It Runs Through Argentina. - URL: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/andes-atlantic-corridor-first-western-hemisphere-argentina-guyana-minerals-2026/ - Published: 2026-09-26T14:25:11.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-27T05:16:07.000Z - Description: The United States launched the Andes-Atlantic Corridor on 23 September 2026, its first such corridor in the Western Hemisphere. The State Department says deals will be advanced excluding non-market actors. Argentina's foreign minister said there is no conditionality. - Author: Theon Alleyne - Tags: Business, Energy, Analysis, Guyana **Quick summary:** The United States launched its first Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment corridor in the Western Hemisphere on 23 September 2026, and it went to Argentina. The State Department fact sheet says transactions will be advanced by excluding non-market actors. Argentina's foreign minister said the next day there is no conditionality. By LCN Business Desk Washington has been building economic corridors for several years, in Africa, in the Philippines, from India to Europe and across the Caspian. On 23 September it launched one in this hemisphere for the first time, and it runs through Argentina. The [State Department fact sheet](https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesman/2026/09/united-states-and-argentina-launch-andes-atlantic-corridor-fact-sheet/?ref=lacaribenanews.com) calls the Andes-Atlantic Corridor "the first Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment Corridor in the Western Hemisphere". It connects Argentina's critical-mineral-rich northwest and the Vaca Muerta energy basin to Atlantic ports through rail, pipeline, port, power and digital infrastructure. The minerals named are lithium, copper, oil and gas. ## What is actually inside the corridor? | Project | Detail from the fact sheet | | --------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Argentina LNG | A US$51 billion integrated project in Vaca Muerta led by YPF with Eni and XRG. EXIM has issued a non-binding indicative term sheet of up to US$6 billion | | Pipeline construction | Pumpco, a MasTec subsidiary, with Bonatti and Contreras Hnos, awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract worth more than US$1 billion for the export pipeline system, subject to final investment decision | | Gas processing | McDermott awarded the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning contract for a natural gas liquids fractionation and gas treatment facility | | Transmission | AMBA 1, an estimated US$800 million high-voltage concession backed by an Inter-American Development Bank loan guarantee, serving the region that takes nearly 60 per cent of national power demand | | Waterway | A 25-year Hidrovia concession awarded in June 2026, estimated to bring US$10 billion in investment | | Freight rail | 50-year concessions tendered in August 2026 on the Belgrano, San Martin and Urquiza lines, to cut transport costs for lithium and copper | | Fibre | An ARSAT fibre-optic modernisation concession, with a US$49 million Inter-American Development Bank loan for phase one | Source: United States Department of State fact sheet, 23 September 2026. The financing frame behind it was reported here on Wednesday, in [Guyana's President Met the American Lender on Monday](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/us-exim-argentina-7-billion-andes-atlantic-corridor-guyana-minerals-2026/): up to US$7 billion from the Export-Import Bank through 2027. ## What do the two governments say about China? Different things, in the same week, about the same instrument. The fact sheet states that the United States intends to use its financing and investment tools "to prepare and advance infrastructure transactions to international standards, excluding non-market actors and incorporating trusted technology". It also describes a United States-owned telecoms acquisition as "ensuring trusted connectivity". Asked the following day whether the corridor carried any condition restricting Chinese participation, Argentina's Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno answered that there is no conditionality, and said the alliance with Washington is not detrimental to Argentina's commercial relationship with China, [China en las Americas](http://chinalasamericas.com/2026/09/24/argentina-y-eeuu-lanzan-corredor-de-infraestructura-y-minerales-criticos-canciller-niega-clausula-contra-china/?ref=lacaribenanews.com) reported. Neither statement contradicts the other on its face. The fact sheet describes how American money will be deployed. The foreign minister was answering about conditions on the corridor itself. A supplier excluded from American financing is not thereby barred from an Argentine tender. ## What has that exclusion looked like in practice? It has already reached the province the corridor is built around. In August this newspaper reported that the United States warned directors of CALF, an electricity co-operative in Neuquen with 9,000 fibre customers, that their visas could be restricted over a Huawei fibre contract, in [A Patagonian Power Co-op Chose Huawei](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/huawei-visa-warning-calf-neuquen-caribbean-telecoms-boards-2026/). The instrument was section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, used against Huawei employees since 2020 and extended there to a customer. Neuquen is the province that holds Vaca Muerta. The corridor announced on 23 September is built around it. The wider division the corridor sits inside was set out in [The Plan to Slow AI Names Washington, Its Allies and Beijing](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/ai-pacing-plan-caribbean-china-guyana-2026/), where a 3,900-word proposal splitting the technology between the United States, its allies and China did not mention the Caribbean, Latin America or the developing world once. What the region is choosing on its own account is in [A Ugandan Developer Chose Alibaba Over Meta and Google](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/china-open-ai-models-africa-latin-america-caribbean-2026/). Another export credit agency has drawn the same kind of line in Georgetown and drawn it differently. UK Export Finance told Guyanese businesses on 9 September that British policy bars it from financing oil and gas contracts while the wider supply chain faces no "purity test", with published appetite of 2 to 3 billion pounds and a content rule starting at 20 per cent, reported in [The UK Will Not Finance Guyana's Oil](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/ukef-guyana-oil-carve-out-uk-content-rule-2026/). An export credit agency always has a boundary. What differs is where it falls and whether it is published. ## Why does a corridor in Argentina matter in Georgetown? Because the official leading it was in Guyana six weeks ago on the same subject. The fact sheet says Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau will travel to Argentina in October to advocate for corridor transactions. Landau was in Georgetown in August to talk critical minerals, reported in [The Deputy Secretary of State Is in Georgetown to Talk Critical Minerals](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/us-deputy-secretary-landau-guyana-critical-minerals-2026/). The hemisphere has one corridor and it is not in the Caribbean. What Guyana has on the same file is a mineral inventory still being compiled, set out in [Chile, Argentina and Brazil Race to Refine Lithium](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/lithium-chile-argentina-brazil-refining-guyana-mineral-mapping-2026/) and in [The Resource Ministry Says Wales Will Carry 600 MW](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-wales-600mw-gas-bharrat-mineral-inventory-2026/). Washington has taken an equity stake in a Guyanese bauxite mine, in [Washington Has Taken an Equity Stake in a Guyanese Bauxite Mine](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/us-department-of-war-strategic-bauxite-guyana-refractory-2026/), which is a transaction rather than a corridor. ## What has Argentina put on its own side? Rules that make the money work. The fact sheet names the Incentive Regime for Large Investments, which offers long-term tax, trade and foreign-exchange benefits for large-scale investment in priority sectors. Concessions of 25 and 50 years have been tendered. That is a state writing terms a lender can underwrite. Argentina's own finances remain the open question. Its currency swap with China reads US$19 billion while under US$700 million was actually owed, established in [Argentina's China Swap Reads US$19 Billion](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/argentina-china-currency-swap-caribbean-reserves-diversification-2026/), and it has 30,633 fewer registered employers than in November 2023, in [Argentina Has 30,633 Fewer Employers Than in November 2023](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/argentina-employer-registry-neuquen-vaca-muerta-2026/). A United States delegation from State, the Development Finance Corporation and the Export-Import Bank travels to Buenos Aires, Jujuy and Salta in October. A further roadshow is proposed for New York and Washington on 9 and 10 December. ### What the title card shows - **The first:** the Andes-Atlantic Corridor is the first Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment corridor in the Western Hemisphere, launched 23 September 2026. - **Four others exist:** the Lobito Corridor in Africa, the Luzon Economic Corridor, the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor and the Trans-Caspian Trade Route. - **US$51 billion:** the size of the Argentina LNG project in Vaca Muerta, against an Export-Import Bank non-binding indicative term sheet of up to US$6 billion. - **"Excluding non-market actors":** the State Department's own wording on how transactions will be prepared and advanced. Argentina's foreign minister said there is no conditionality. In August, Washington warned directors of a co-operative in Neuquen, the province that holds Vaca Muerta, that their visas were at risk over a Huawei contract. - **October:** when Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau travels to Argentina. He was in Georgetown on critical minerals in August. ## Frequently Asked Questions What is the Andes-Atlantic Corridor? A joint United States and Argentine initiative launched on 23 September 2026 to modernise the rail, pipeline, port, power and digital infrastructure connecting Argentina's critical-mineral northwest and the Vaca Muerta basin to Atlantic ports. It is the first such corridor in the Western Hemisphere. Does it exclude Chinese companies? The State Department fact sheet says the United States intends to advance transactions "excluding non-market actors and incorporating trusted technology". Argentina's Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno said the following day that there is no conditionality and that the alliance does not damage Argentina's commercial relationship with China. The two statements address different things: how American financing is deployed, and what conditions attach to the corridor. How much money is involved? The Export-Import Bank framework provides up to US$7 billion by 2027\. Named items include a US$51 billion LNG project with a term sheet of up to US$6 billion, an US$800 million transmission concession, a waterway concession estimated at US$10 billion in investment and a US$49 million fibre loan. Is there a Caribbean equivalent? Not on the State Department's published list. The other corridors are the Lobito Corridor, the Luzon Economic Corridor, the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor and the Trans-Caspian Trade Route.