Canadian Ambassador to Argentina Stewart Wheeler confirmed that the two countries are in talks to modernize an agreement to promote and protect investments the pair originally signed in 1992. 

The goal is to attract mining investments, a sector President Javier Milei considers to be crucial for economic growth and one in which the North American country has ample experience in. 

“It’s about 30 years old, and both sides want to modernize it,” said Wheeler, who arrived in Argentina in 2025. These negotiations, coupled with ongoing talks over a free trade agreement between Canada and the Mercosur bloc and Milei’s pro-market reforms, are encouraging signs for the ambassador.

“I’m probably the first optimistic Canadian ambassador in Argentina in a generation,” he told the Herald.

Things weren’t always this way. According to Wheeler, the embassy’s commercial branch has often found it “frustrating to do business in Argentina” due to the lack of macroeconomic stability, exchange restrictions, and high inflation. 

“Those are things that the business community looks to for stability when they’re choosing where to put their energy abroad,” he said, adding that Canadians know that a new government has arrived and that the country is opening up to more trade and investment. 

“And that’s all very positive.”

Wheeler pointed out that the Milei administration has been “very successful” at stabilizing inflation and “starting along that long path of economic reform.” Among the more noted bills, he pointed to labor reform and changes to the Glaciers Law, a government-backed initiative that relaxed environmental controls and glacier areas and opened the door to mining in areas that were previously protected. 

“Those were some of the predictability and transparency questions that the private sector would look to if they’re going to come here and invest billions of dollars to develop mines or energy,” he emphasized. Wheeler added that last October’s election showed “a vote of confidence in the direction the government was taking the country.”

The potential signing of a Canada-Mercosur deal is a key factor to increase commerce between the two and attract Canadian investments. Regarding a timeline for the deal to get done, Wheeler said it’s hard to say exactly how long negotiations will take but that they are “going very well.”

He went on to say that free trade has been one of his country’s hallmarks and that Mercosur has become one of their “priority free trade negotiations” due to the fact that they have a lot of complementarity between the economies.

The potential for Canadian investment

Wheeler pointed out that Canadian investment is probably most visible in mining. According to him, “well over 50%” of new mining explorations in Argentina come from Canadian companies.

“Argentines sometimes hear a narrative that suggests that foreign countries are coming with their big companies to exploit a natural resource and then leave. Canadian companies have been in the mining sector here for decades, and they’re here to stay,” he explained.

He added that they are also looking to be a long-term partner in Argentina’s development in mining and oil and gas, as well as other sectors, like renewable energies.

“There is a lot of engineering and renewable energy know-how that’s required to combine renewable energies with traditional sources of energy or nuclear energy and put it all together into a grid that goes out into parts that are far away from cities and supplies economic needs,” Wheeler added.

“And that’s all the expertise and experience that we have; (so) we’re happy to build with Argentina,” he said.