German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and Argentine counterpart Pablo Quirno signed a memorandum of understanding in Buenos Aires on Wednesday aimed at deepening cooperation in mining and critical raw materials.
"The more trade conflicts and crises severely impact our supply chains, the more we need to diversify our economies and become more resilient," Wadephul said after the signing ceremony.
Germany is seeking to reduce its dependence on China for rare earths and other critical minerals needed for future technologies, while also strengthening partnerships in regions like Latin America as trans-Atlantic relations under US President Donald Trump have become increasingly strained.
Wadephul said Germany needed chips for mobile phones, lithium for electric vehicle batteries and metals for industry.
"We cannot and will not allow tariff threats to spiral out of control and critical dependencies, such as those on raw material exports, to be used as political leverage," he said, without explicitly mentioning either Trump or China.
He added that Germany possessed the technology needed to process raw materials and wanted to develop local value-added industries in Argentina, creating benefits for both countries while adhering to environmental and social standards.
Quirno emphasized Argentina's vast natural resources and Germany's technological expertise.
"We know Germany's technological strength. Argentina has the natural resources," he said.
Argentina has extensive mineral reserves, with gold, silver and lithium accounting for around 95% of mining exports. Additional projects are under development to extract copper and lithium, a key component in electric vehicle batteries, smartphones, laptops and renewable energy technologies.
Both sides also praised the free-trade agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur countries, describing it as an important signal in favour of open markets amid rising protectionism.
The agreement with Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay created the world's free-trade area, according to the European Commission.
More than 190 German companies currently operate in Argentina. Buenos Aires has also expanded cooperation with the United States on trade, investment and critical minerals, although both Wadephul and Quirno said there remained ample room for deeper German-Argentine collaboration and stressed that they did not view their ties as being in competition with Washington.
Before meeting Quirno, Wadephul laid a wreath at the monument to José de San Martín, the 19th-century liberation hero who is revered in Argentina as a symbol of freedom and self-determination.
Wadephul visited Paraguay on Tuesday and is due to travel to Brazil next.
