U.S., Argentina Agree to Strengthen Trade Ties
Officials from the U.S. and Argentina this week signed a bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), and are forming six working groups to identify trade barriers and chart the course for a more fruitful trade relationship between the two countries, the White House said this week as President Barack Obama visited Argentina. “I think at the beginning, right now, there’s a lot of underbrush, a lot of unnecessary trade irritants and commercial irritants that can be cleared away administratively,” Obama said (here) during a March 23 joint press conference in Buenos Aires alongside Argentine President Mauricio Macri. “And that's some of the work that we intend to do right away.”
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While Obama said a free trade agreement between the U.S. and Mercosur could eventually sprout from the efforts of the working groups, Macri underscored that the South American trading bloc must “consolidate” before the onset of any FTA. “Argentina has a lot to offer, and right now it has a very low level of trade exchange with the United States,” Macri said during the press conference. “What we both feel is that we have enormous room for joint work after many years of almost nonexistent relations.” Two-way trade in goods and services between the U.S. and Argentina totaled $23 billion in 2014, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (here). The Commerce Department and Argentina’s Ministry of Production signed a memorandum of intent to formally establish the U.S.-Argentina Commercial Dialogue, which among other things will focus on removing trade barriers and identifying “new commercial opportunities” between the countries, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said (here) in a same-day address in Buenos Aires.
The U.S. and Argentina have committed to work together to expand global agricultural trade and to bust non-scientific barriers to trade, including work to expand bilateral trade and resolve agricultural market access issues, a White House fact sheet released on March 23 said (here). The TIFA aims to achieve these and other goals, the fact sheet said. The White House also praised Argentina’s intention to this year submit the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement to the National Congress of Argentina for approval. The U.S. will also cooperate with Argentina as the countries continue to develop single-window customs platforms, the White House said.