Uruguay’ Chamber of Industries, CIU, criticized the ‘indiscriminate’ influx of foreign goods, labour costs and Mercosur, and called on government to change the focus of its policies towards manufacturing underscoring that the domestic market represents 55% of industries’ GDP.
Uruguay’s Minister of Industry and Energy Roberto Kreimerman admitted that Brazil suspended the access of textiles from Uruguay alleging that they were essentially Chinese cloth rolls with minimum input but stamped as Uruguayan manufactured and dispatched to Brazil.
Mercosur from a real point of view exits, but institutionally it’s a “chewing gum” claimed Uruguayan president Jose Mujica who anticipated he would demand from the block’s partners that Uruguay be allowed to sign bilateral trade agreements with third parties.
Argentina’s controversial new import restrictions came into effect on Wednesday as part of the legislation on the trading sector which gives the government bureaucracy more powers to control and restrict imports.
Uruguay’s president of the Chamber of Industries, (CIU) Washington Burghi said that relations with Mercosur partners are becoming ever so complicated and if these problems are not addressed “we will be in serious trouble because the whole world is going through tough situations”.
The chairman of the Uruguayan Chamber of Industry, Washington Burghi, warned that Argentina’s decision to restrict imports could be “the beginning of the end” for the Mercosur. However Argentine ambassador in Montevideo said decisions are targeted against Asian imports with the purpose of defending Argentine jobs.