Argentina loosens visa requirement for Chinese citizens
Argentina is a key supplier of products including beef, soy and lithium to the Chinese market and cooperation has deepened between the two countries in recent years.
The decision by President Javier Millei was made to boost tourism and "deactivate" mechanisms which have "impeded the free development of Argentina's economy, of which tourism is a strategic area," according to a statement on the Argentine government's website.
It comes after China in May extended its visa-free policy to citizens of Argentina as well as those of Brazil, Chile, Peru and Uruguay, putting some of Latin America's largest economies on equal footing with many European and Asian countries.
In line with the exemption adopted by China, it is "deemed appropriate to adopt equivalent measures for Chinese nationals holding ordinary passports who enter for tourism and business purposes," the statement said.
China is Argentina's second-largest trading partner after Brazil and a key investor in infrastructure, energy and mining projects in the country.
China has also extended a multi-billion dollar swap line to Argentina, mollifying billions of dollars in repayments that the Latin American nation needs to pay in the coming months.
Argentina is also part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, which it joined in 2022.
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
China's Appetite for Nvidia H20 AI Chips Expands
Demand for Nvidia's H20 AI chips is so strong in China that Nvidia is looking beyond its existing inventory and ordering hundreds of thousands more from foundry TSMC. Reuters noted Monday that Nvidia's inventory could be as high as 700,000. The move to buy more chips emphasizes China's appetite for American AI hardware, even with less power than chips in the US. Nvidia developed the H20 to compete with Huawei, a chipmaker based in China. The US bars companies from selling US technology to Huawei. That approach appears to have been successful at slowing Huawei's progress in developing critical technology, but also makes it hard for China to turn anywhere else for chips. Nvidia has warned that software developers could switch to Huawei chips if they don't have access to Nvidia's chips and software tools. The H20 is much slower than Nvidia's H100 and H200 AI chips, which are available to customers outside China. Last year, Elon Musk used 100,000 H100 chips to create an impressive training cluster for xAI's Grok. Credit: Nvidia As NPR noted, the H20's fate was uncertain earlier this year, when it appeared the Trump administration was considering whether to ban or limit sales to China, the only major market for the slower chip. The administration later decided not to add restrictions to the H20, allowing Nvidia to sell its chip in China. The move is a boon both for Nvidia, which designed the chip, and for Taiwan-based TSMC, which manufactures the H20 for Nvidia. While Nvidia sold an estimated 1 million H20s in 2024, it could be on track to sell more this year. The company is believed to already have as much as 700,000 in inventory and has placed an order with TSMC for another 300,000. According to Reuters, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had indicated earlier that Nvidia would order more chips if the demand was there, and apparently, it is. China represents an important market for Nvidia, but the US has attempted to prevent the country from getting cutting-edge technology, wary of China's military. On top of those concerns, the US and China have been tangled in a trade war. Semiconductors largely avoided tariffs that affected many other products initially, but tariffs have fluctuated, and uncertainty has caused headaches for many US companies that do business with China.
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Albemarle posts surprise second-quarter profit
(Reuters) -Albemarle, the world's largest producer of lithium for rechargeable batteries, posted a surprise second-quarter profit on Wednesday, helped by rising demand for the metal. Shares of the company rose 5.6% after the bell. Lithium's use in electric vehicles, large-scale battery storage and other electronic applications has grown rapidly, with demand up 24% last year and likely to grow 12% annually for the next decade, according to data from consultancy Fastmarkets. However, prices have fallen more than 90% in the past two years due in part to oversupply in China, fueling layoffs, corporate buyouts and project delays across the globe. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based company reported an adjusted profit of 11 cents per share, compared with analysts' expectations of 82 cents loss per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
MGM Resorts quarterly revenue rises on sports betting strength
(Reuters) -Casino operator MGM Resorts International on Wednesday reported a rise in second-quarter revenue, driven by strong performance in its online sports-betting operations as well as its China unit. The company's China unit reported a 9% revenue growth at $1.11 billion as its casinos in the region generated more revenue from participations in main floor and VIP table games. Revenue from its regional operations segment, which encompasses casinos in U.S. markets outside Las Vegas, also rose 4% to $964.6 million. Its digital unit, which offers online gaming product offerings such as iGaming, as well as digital slots, table games, live dealer and online sports betting, recorded a 14% revenue growth to $163.9 million. There has been a surge in demand for online gambling, especially in sports betting, in the last few years, benefiting companies such as MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment. Caesars had posted a narrower loss on Tuesday, while BetMGM, MGM's sports-betting joint venture Entain, had also raised its annual forecast due to strong demand in online sports betting and its iGaming division. However, MGM Digital's adjusted operating loss widened, and weighed on the company's overall earnings. MGM Resorts' adjusted per-share profit for the second-quarter came in at 79 cents, compared to 86 cents, a year earlier. Total revenue rose 1.8% to $4.40 billion for the quarter ended June 30, from $4.33 billion a year earlier.
