MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Argentina the 'main obstacle' in reaching a trade accord with the EU, claims Uruguay
It's a fact, Argentina is the 'main obstacle' for Mercosur to advance in reaching a trade agreement with the European Union, and Venezuela, the latest incorporation to the group, is also hindering efforts, revealed Uruguay's Economy minister Danilo Astori during a conference on the country's investment prospects. Read full article
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Nov 13th, 2015 - 11:04 am - Link - Report abuse 0Argentina could simply not find any compelling reason or advantage to sign a deal. It happens.
God forbid we should be able to buy parts for cars or other things that are needed and not made here. Then there are the things that just disappear off the shelves. Some of them even made here in this screwed up country. Just recently even Ziplock bags, made in Mexico had gone bye-bye. There is nothing comparable made here. Domestic Rum...going by the name Jamaica...disappeared about 3 months ago...WTF?? I just don't get it.
Nov 13th, 2015 - 11:42 am - Link - Report abuse 0Lol
Nov 13th, 2015 - 01:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0latam is doomed.
Can any of the posters from Argentina explain why a country that once thrived on trade is now so again trade?
Nov 13th, 2015 - 01:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Given the amount of agricultural produce of Argentina what exactly is the problem with exporting it? If you are short of car parts for example trade pays for them.
Because if you read history you will know Argentina was bamboozled by Europe and North America.
Nov 13th, 2015 - 01:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Argentina once was the 5th trading nation and it's currency the 7th most sought out and traded currency, but then the NORTHAMOANS didn't like this so they colluded to have their products be bought by other countries, under the threat of sanctions or worse. Then after WWII the Europeans also started to block our products. This left Peron with no choice but to seek Import-Substitution.
So the reason why a country that once was synonymous with global trade now absolutely despises it is because we were treated like crap by the foreigners. No surprise that we will never trust you again.
@4 There is nothing bad with exporting our produce but exporting raw products is simply not enough to grow our economy. If we stick to just agriculture we will end up like Bolivia, eternally poor. We need to develop an industry and this is just not possible without some level of protectionism.
Nov 13th, 2015 - 03:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Argentina was wealthy when the population was low, our agrarian economy run out of land to expand to on the 1930s so it could not keep up growing with the population.
@4 Argentina's current economic problems are based in a number of problems, most of which are self-inflicted injuries involving self-deception and abysmally poor economic and trade-restraint policies. The country is a banana republic without the bananas. That is, its only significant contribution to trade involves its agricultural output, which it burdens with heavy export taxation in the case of soy beans. In the area of formerly significant beef exports, it now trails well behind much smaller producers such as tiny Paraguay, in both quality and quantity, in large part due to its government price controls which attempted to artificially create lower domestic prices for beef, for its populist political purposes. The price controls backfired and Argentine agricultural producers got out of the beef market and got into other lines, with the natural result that domestic supply fell and prices of course increased.
Nov 13th, 2015 - 04:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0In manufacturing, Argentine technology practices are decades behind the developed world, and labour overhead and the effects of internal corruption and mismanagement severely disadvantage Argentine manufactured products, which are essentially noncompetitive in the world markets. One example of this is seen in Toyota's assembly plants in Argentina, which are often stymied by high labour costs and the government's dollar controls and the resulting inability of Toyota to import the parts needed to assemble vehicles (Argentina doesn't really “manufacture” motor vehicles so much as provides semi-skilled labour to put together foreign-manufactured parts). The result is that the same model vehicle assembled in Argentina is too expensive to sell in next-door Chile, which gets the same model at a lower cost from Asia.
So Argentina blames everyone else for its own continuing failures and malfeasance in trade and other economic matters, but it has no one to blame except for its own Peronist government policies.
No matter who wins the elections the Rgs are doomed. If Macri wins and implements the much needed overhauls of the economy and regulations the unions will bring him down. If Fpv wins its more of the same until tey end up like Venezuela. Its maybe another 6 mos until they get to that point.
Nov 13th, 2015 - 04:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It's going to take two decades to fix what the Ks did to this country and that's only if they get someone ruling them who has unlimited and ruthless power to do what Pinochet did in Chile.
I am anxiously awaiting the audits of BCRA YPF Aerolineas ENARSA ANSES. Banco Nacion etc etc etc There's plenty of indictments to go around when all of these entities are found to be bankrupt.
The cleanest way for Macri to get rid of the Ks is to let the USA DEA come in and investigate the meth and coke mfg the Ks control. They'll all be rotting in a USA jail within 6 mos.
Errrrrrrr --How about being friendly with the Falklands who are ALIGNED to the EU and seem to have (via JUST 3000 people) , what several millions of people in Latin America want (i.e. strong links/agreements with the EU)?
Nov 13th, 2015 - 05:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I am truly shocked that Argentina was blamed rather than the Brits/Falkland Islanders. At the sunset of CFK's reign, before she goes down the plughole, suddenly all the shit is coming Argentina's way.....
@9 That is because it has been CFK's policy to never get past the “A's” --
Nov 13th, 2015 - 06:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Attack, antagonise, aggravate, alienate. ....
@6/7
Nov 13th, 2015 - 07:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0thanks for the info.
To be honest taxing exports seems suicidal.Taxing imports I can understand.
40 million doesn't seem like a large population given the size of the country.I seriously doubt that you could become successful at manufacturing given the cheep labour in the Far East,
@5 I have studied history for over 40 years.What exactly has the U.S. Done to Argentina? It's not as if Argentine products are not available in Europe.
Pick up trucks are not that common a vehicle in the UK but VW Amrok,s built in Arg are probably the most common.Corned Beef and Mate is on sale.
@1, 5. Have you ever tried intelligence? If you go back, you'll find a time when argieland was prosperous. Amazingly, at the same time, the British organised the economy. They had a vested interest in a prosperous argieland. Argieland got most of the benefits. But argies couldn't stand that. So they took over. Unfortunately, being stupid and braindead, the economy promptly nosedived. After a few years, circumstances were such that Brits took over organisation yet again. Argieland prospered. Was peronism next? Hitler worship. Since then argieland has occasionally taken advantage of world circumstances. Has it ever managed to create its own economic situation? Yes it has. Lies, corruption, criminality, fraud. Tried it all. Even tried illegal attack, invasion, occupation. Beaten shitless.
Nov 13th, 2015 - 07:54 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Argies are myopic. Some brainless prick says that argieland was treated like crap by foreigners. NEWS: It was crap. It still is. Argieland thinks it has a “right” to be “respected”. No, it doesn't. It's shit. Said so many times but “respect” is earned. Argieland has earned as much respect as it deserves. None.
Argentina is the 'main obstacle to everything it seems,
Nov 13th, 2015 - 09:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0removal perhaps is desirable .
Something to ponder on and read of a very interesting item.
Shhhh secret only.
Why the US Air Forces New Long-Range Strike-Bomber is Potentially Important for the UK
http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2015/11/why-the-us-air-forces-new-long-range-strike-bomber-is-potentially-important-for-the-uk/
The LRS-B will be capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Notwithstanding the need to replace Tornado in the long-range strike role, it is LRS-B’s nuclear capability that will have most caught the attention of UK Defence planners
But if the UK were to acquire a fleet of 20 LRS-Bs, for example, for £10 billion for the aircraft plus a lifetime cost of a further £2 billion per year, , it would be much cheaper than Trident/Successor.
The added bonus of LRS-B is that when not serving as a nuclear deterrent, the aircraft can be used in a conventional strike role
What has suddenly brought this discussion sharply into focus is that the US has been secretly developing LRS-B for some time.
.
Not surprisingly, any UK involvement in LRS-B is cloaked in secrecy, as is the aircraft itself
Read on==
just a subject change, the argies love it...
@13
Nov 13th, 2015 - 11:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Back in the 60,s the RAF had the capability to hit the Reds with 200 megaton size nukes.
The Polaris replacement had at best 16 targets with 3 small nukes each,assuming 1 boat on station.
This idea sounds far more cost effect,the money saved could go to extra Astute submarines and F-35B,s.
@7
Nov 14th, 2015 - 11:33 am - Link - Report abuse 0Well stated. At the end of the day, a country needs to be a competitive, low cost producer... and that includes both agricultural and non-agricultural products. Obviously any given country can't produce EVERYTHING they need at the best quality and price, so sooner or later international trade is going to happen. When prices / costs are too far away from true current market value, smuggling and corruption become too lucrative to pass up. If your local prices are too high, (like items with high import taxes or controls) smuggling brings item in. If your commodity prices are held artificially low by government controls, (like gasoline in Venezuela), smuggling takes things out.
International finance and commerce doesn't really care about what countries are doing business, (with the specific exceptions of terrorist states like ISIS controlled territories and /or North Korea). It's all about business risk and returns on investment. Unfortunately when a country is considered a bad debtor, with low compliance with contract law and unstable currency, the investment just goes elsewhere. It's not that anyone is AGAINST Argentina, it's just that they really don't have any specific product or service that can't be provided by someone else, cheaper and with less risk. It's the potential MARKET for selling there that is more interesting for many businesses... but currency controls, etc. hinder that.
The above isn't meant to be a slam against Argentina, it's just the way the world works. You really can't avoid “playing the trade / commerce game”, because everyone else does... and their actions influence how competitive you need to be, whether you're a producer or a consumer.
Best wishes everyone.
From todays Diario Los Andes: http://www.losandes.com.ar/article/el-mayor-cepo-a-importaciones-impacta-en-oferta-de-tecnologia
Nov 14th, 2015 - 12:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Mercosur isn't an invincible monolith. If the attitude of Argentina doesn't change, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay will pull the plug on Mercosur and look after their own common interests.
Nov 14th, 2015 - 01:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@16 It surprises no one that the low-end junk that Argentina assembles in Tierra del Fuego isn't exactly flying off the shelves. It's in stock because nobody wants it. But some of the decent (read: imported) goods are getting scarce.
Nov 14th, 2015 - 03:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The cepo is still screwing up even the low-skill assembly work since those companies can't even get subsidised (official) dollars to buy the parts they need to stay in business (and of course they can't lay off workers under the Kirchnerist modelo). The alternative right now is for some companies to pay 30 percent more for Blue Dollars on the open market.
I do not understand why we are hearing this silly news of investors thinking they are going to soon jump into Argentina and be in tall cotton. In a few weeks reality is going to set in here, a greater understanding of the mess created by the KK will be publicised, and Argentina will be once again turning into shite.
Why didn't Astori and the rest of the Uruguayan government man up years ago? Uruguay and the rest of Mercosur should have dumped Argentina or left the organisation years ago. We should have cut off all imports from Argentina.
Nov 14th, 2015 - 11:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0All this has been repeated once and again in Uruguayan newspapers over the last ten years.
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