The US State Department announced on Friday that Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Juan Pablo Segura, the assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, will travel to Paraguay and Argentina from October 19 to 26 to build on the Andes-Atlantic Corridor.
The announcement came the same day President Milei, back at the Olivos presidential residence from Washington, spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The State Department said the two reaffirmed the partnership and committed to close coordination on results that benefit both countries.
In Buenos Aires, Landau will meet senior government officials and private-sector leaders to discuss economic growth, US investment and security cooperation, the department said. Argentine officials said his schedule includes Milei, Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno and congressional authorities. In Paraguay he will lead a delegation of US companies exploring investment.
The corridor’s most advanced component is Argentina LNG, the gas-export project led by the state energy company YPF with Italy’s Eni and the UAE’s XRG. The US Export-Import Bank has put forward an indicative financing proposal of up to US$6 billion, a loan that needs approval from the bank’s board.
Segura, 38, was born in Virginia to Argentine parents and was confirmed by the Senate in August. Quirno met him in Washington on Wednesday, during Milei’s visit, to review the bilateral agenda.
The visit comes as the government tries to get the trade agreement through Congress. The protocol Quirno signed on Wednesday with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer drops references to the reciprocal tariffs struck down by the US Supreme Court and keeps most-favoured-nation treatment for Argentine goods, the tariff treatment Washington gives its most-favoured trading partners. It takes effect 60 days after both governments confirm their internal approvals.
Milei’s party, La Libertad Avanza, must still build a majority in Congress to ratify the agreement, and no vote date has been set.
