On Monday (27.04.2021/XNUMX/XNUMX) Argentina formally presented a proposal to reduce the Common External Tariff (CET) at the Mercosur summit of foreign ministers and ratified its position in favor of jointly carrying out relations with third countries, based on the existing trade priorities in the regional bloc.
Inaugurating the XII Extraordinary Meeting of the Common Market Council, Foreign Minister Felipe Solá pointed out that "a proposal for an average reduction in the AEC, but using a methodology for segmenting the tariff universe into agro-industrial, industrial, capital goods, IT and telecommunications products«.
The initiative has "five links differentiated from each other by the degree of elaboration of the product in each case and from there comes a recommendation for greater reductions in inputs and raw materials, and smaller reductions in final goods," Solá added.
The Common External Tariff is the rate that products from third countries must pay to enter the regional market.
As to relations with third countries or blocks, Solá instructed "to the coordinators of the Common Market Group so that, at the end of this semester, prepare a proposal for an external negotiations plan that identifies priorities for Mercosur's external agenda«.
He also called for specific types of offers and disciplines to be considered and for a full report to be produced on the status of the various negotiations.
Argentina hopes to converge on the proposals of the States Parties in the review of the AEC and in the external relations system during this semester, according to sources from the Foreign Ministry who informed Télam.
Uruguay Initiative
On this occasion, Uruguay finally formally presented its initiative to "flexibilize" the AEC and the policy of relations with third countries or blocks.
Specifically, Uruguay proposes that in order to "explore" new negotiations for trade agreements with countries outside the bloc, the joint participation of all Mercosur members should no longer be necessary.
Legally, this would entail modifying Decision 32 of the Common Market Council (CMC) of 2000, which, in its Article 1, reaffirmed "the commitment of the Mercosur Member States to jointly negotiate trade agreements with third countries or groups of countries outside the zone in which tariff preferences are granted."
Meanwhile, from a political-institutional perspective, it could mean a new configuration of Mercosur.
Through its Twitter account, the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry said that the initiative presented today "on flexibility and common external tariff" has "with the full support of Brazil«.
Brazil's Economy Minister Pablo Guedes supported the Uruguayan proposal, but the Brazilian Foreign Ministry was more cautious, according to sources at the Foreign Ministry.
Brazil is also pushing for a deeper cut in the AEC than Argentina.
At today's meeting, Solá insisted that "Argentina has the will to reach consensus."
The Argentine proposal, which was announced in general terms a couple of weeks ago, contemplates the reduction of the Common External Tariff on a total of 1.900 input products, as well as capital goods and accessories, from the current 2% to 0%.
The Uruguayan initiative, for its part, envisages a reduction of all tariffs by around 10% this year and a similar percentage in 2022. In addition, it postulates that external relations can be carried out by each country individually, without the need for the endorsement of the entire bloc.
Thus, Negotiations will continue next May with a new meeting of coordinators of the Common Market Group and with a face-to-face meeting of Foreign Ministers to be held in the city of Buenos Aires., since Argentina holds the pro tempore presidency of the bloc.
Yesterday's Mercosur meeting was for foreign ministers, but members of the economic teams of the various governments were also present.
In addition to Martín Guzmán, Argentina was represented by the Minister of Productive Development, Matías Kulfas, and the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Basterra.
With information from Télam
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