"Argentina's problem is that it can point to very few examples of manufacturing or services that satisfy domestic and overseas consumers. Automobiles has had a checkered history, to name one. If the policies you mention were so sure-fire then the question must be asked why in the 85 years since the first crash have they not delivered? "
First, Argentine manufacturing is quite capable. There has never been a lot of exporting because the government has never encouraged it- there have been taxes on exports (completely nutty policy) and intentional friction in terms of customs, shipping, and duties that make it difficult to export.
The policies I mention have, indeed, been used, in places like the US and China, to great success.
as mentioned- an import export bank is a simple first step. It does not actually loan money- it guarantees loans that meet its standards. Most Boeing plane sold outside of the USA is financed this way- which is in the tens of billions of dollars a year. Obviously, this works. It enables foreign airlines and leasing companies to get competitive private financing, if they meet the US financial requirements, at lower interest rates, due to the backing of the Import Export Bank. Argentina should have an Import Export Bank.
As for industries that could viably export- there are many.
Argentina, due to its physical and political isolation, largely by Peronists, has much more manufacturing than its neighbors except Brazil.
For instance, Electric motors and transformers, small machine tools, hand tools, agricultural implements for small tractors and small scale farming, all sorts of food manufacturing equipment from pizza ovens to pasta making machinery to baking equipment, espresso machines, and so on, leather working and textile machinery, silverware, glassware and ceramics, textiles of all sorts, particularly fabrics made from argentine grown wool, cotton, llama, alpaca, and vicuna, clothing, shoes, handbags, lighting, furniture, eyewear, store fixtures- I am aware of small companies in all of these market sectors that are, in quality and product line, placed squarely in between the low end chinese, and the high end europeans. Most smaller countries import all of these things from China.
Take Uruguay, for example- pretty much NOTHING is made there.
But a good third of the products in Uruguay have "Industria Argentina" on them, if you look.
What the government could, and should, do, is set up a small ministry of export. One that would consolidate shipping containers for groups of small producers, streamlining customs and expediting quick shipping of LOTL (less than truck load) 40' containers, shipped to Argentine government run warehouses on the East and West Coasts of the USA. For much less than DHL, or FED-EX, the government could actually charge handling fees to run what were, essentially, Amazon vendors. Ship shoes, frying pans, purses, thread, leather jackets, and packaged foods to a warehouse in New Jersey, then ship to individual Amazon buyers. This is not rocket science- its simple, proven and easy to do. Yes, it would require an upfront investment, but would result in jobs, foreign exchange, and in-country argentine tax revenue when the manufacturers sold the goods.
I have known several argentines who do this informally- there is a guy in South Florida, I met his brother, who sells 4 or 5 brands of mate, alfajores, and dulce de leche on Amazon- I buy mate from him. He makes money, and he is doing this on a very small scale, paying all the frictional costs of Argentine export. I used to live near a couple in LA who ran a coffee shop, and carried back, in checked luggage 100 or so pairs of shoes 3 or 4 times a year. They did quite well, selling argentine shoes in their coffee shop.
The issue is not quality, or price- its government encouraged export costs that are very high.
I know some knifemakers in the USA who really wanted to buy belt sanders made in Santa Fe- and, argentine price was under 50% of competing US products- but the cost of exporting was more than the difference. As in, landed in the USA, more than the american product. The government could change this, but doesnt.