Argentina’s trade relation with Brazil does not have restrictions and “it’s understandable that some differences surface” when bilateral trade will be reaching over 40 billion dollars this year, said Argentine Industry Ministry sources in Buenos Aires.
Fiat will trim some production in Brazil and Argentina for a week because of a trade spat between the South American neighbours, the Italian car maker said on Friday.
Argentina and Brazil seem to be again on the path of normalizing bilateral trade following the mid May spat that triggered a round of technical exchanges in Buenos Aires and a final meeting at ministerial level in Brasilia. On Monday, allegedly all the Argentine cars delayed in the border will have been cleared into Brazil.
Argentina and Brazil agreed Thursday to abide by the 60-day retention period applied to products affected by non automatic tariff trade barriers and accelerate trade in the agricultural sector with the purpose of overcoming the conflict that erupted mid May and had virtually frozen bilateral operations.
Argentine Industry Minister, Debora Giorgi, and her Brazilian counterpart Fernando Pimentel will meet this Thursday in Brasilia in order to discuss a possible solution for the trade conflict currently affecting Brazil and Argentina
The trade dispute among Mercosur main partners seems to be abating from the moment Brazil authorized on Friday the introduction of 1.000 cars manufactured in Argentina that had been retained in Customs since the implementation of non automatic import licences.
Brazilian Development, Industry and Foreign Trade minister Fernando Pimentel justified trade barriers imposed last week on the import of cars, a measure which was strongly criticized by the Argentine government.
Following a long day of open letters and press exchanges Argentina and Brazil finally agreed on the ground rules for the initiation of a ‘constructive dialogue’ to soften the trade dispute which erupted when Brazil imposed non automatic licences on imported cars, including from Mercosur’ main partner Argentina.
Brazil is tightening requirements for imports of cars in a move that sparked complaints from Argentina, its biggest supplier of the product. Imports to Brazil will need a special license that can take as long as 60 days to be approved, the Trade Ministry said in an e-mailed statement.
Argentina reached an agreement with the French conglomerate Peugeot-Citroen and the importers of Italy’s Alfa Romeo, to balance imports-exports value, following on Argentina’s latest regulations for the country’s auto industry.