Macri met with Elaine Feeney, Amazon's vice president for global infrastructure expansion, in New York late last year. Chile held several meetings with Amazon up through mid-2017, and President Michelle Bachelet visited Amazon's headquarters during a trip to the U.S. in June. Amazon is still deciding how to proceed and could ultimately end up with sites in both locations, another person said.

The idea that Argentina could compete with Chile for foreign investment would have been unthinkable under the government of Macri's predecessor, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Currency controls and restrictions on imports kept investors at bay.