Tierra del Fuego may become a focus for new tensions

Significance

Shipping traffic in the Magellan Strait has increased amid restrictions in the Panama and Suez canals, and the area is key to Chile’s green hydrogen plans. Argentine President Javier Milei has spoken about using Argentina’s naval base in Ushuaia as a gateway to Antarctica, where Chile and Argentina have competing territorial claims, and wider attention is focusing on mineral resources.

Impacts

• Both Chile and Argentina will seek to extract benefits from major powers vying for access to resources.
• US-Chinese competition will rise as melting sea ice improves access to mineral resources.
• Argentina’s erratic foreign policy could complicate ties with Chile, China and the United States.