A US State Department official held low-profile talks in Buenos Aires last week to continue talks with Argentina over exemptions to Donald Trump’s trade tariffs.
Robert Garverick, US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Trade Policy and Negotiations, met with Argentine officials and business leaders in Buenos Aires last week, according to the Clarín daily. Both the US Embassy and the Casa Rosada kept the visit under wraps.
Argentina, like many other countries, has seen its exports slapped by a 10-percent tariff on imports by Trump and is looking to capitalise on President Javeir Milei’s relationship with Trump to seal a deal that would reduce or scrap duties for key products.
Garverick’s trip was part of the White House’s review of whether Argentina has done enough to justify reciprocal tariff exemptions.
Officials are looking at a possible agreement to remove tariffs for around 50 products.
The proposal already has the backing of Mercosur, the regional trade bloc to which Argentina belongs.
During a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers last Friday at the Palacio San Martín, member states approved a “temporary expansion” of Argentina’s national list of tariff exemptions from 100 to 150 products, under the bloc’s Common External Tariff system.
This gives the Milei administration the green light to move forward with a wider trade package that includes another 50 products for mutual exemption with Washington.
Trump has ordered a 90-day pause on new tariffs for most countries (China being the main exclusion) but the 10-percent rate remains in force and Argentina’s exports are already being hit, according to trade experts. For food products, tariffs have doubled. For vegetable and chemical goods, they’ve jumped tenfold.
Argentina’s Foreign Ministry believes the 50 new exemptions, if agreed, could cover up to 80 percent of what the country currently exports to the United States – an estimated US$5 billion.
According to reports, Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein has pledged to review 16 specific areas flagged by the US, including import bans, currency controls, non-tariff barriers, customs procedures, licensing transparency, live cattle exports, intellectual property rights, tax policy, audiovisual and ICT regulations.
President Milei said during a visit to the United States last month that Argentina has already met nine of those 16 requirements and ordered officials to press ahead with the rest.
– TIMES/NA
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