Argentina looking to get back into Brazil’s good books with visit

Amid an ideological scuffle between both countries’ presidents, the Jair Bolsonaro government sat down with Argentinian Foreign Minister Felipe Solá today. Four months after the election of Alberto Fernández as President of Argentina, this was the first official attempt of either administration to calm tensions and have a pragmatic discussion about the future of trade in South America and Argentina’s path to economic recovery.

With Argentina’s licking its wounds after entering an economic emergency and desperately trying to renegotiate the terms of its massive International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan, Mr. Fernández’s administration sees this meeting as a way to get back into its neighbor’s good books.

During the meeting, Mr. Solá said that though Argentina understands Mercosur needs free trade deals with other countries, such as Israel, Lebanon, and Central American nations, they have to “maintain an open mind so that they don’t become an obstacle.”

Defending a pragmatic and realistic stance, the minister asked “our Brazilian brothers [to help] in whatever way they can” with the deal with the IMF. With U.S President Donald Trump having promised such support to Mr. Fernández, the good relations between Mr. Bolsonaro and Washington could be an extra push.

One chance at a first impression

Before being elected in October 2019, leftist Alberto Fernández...