The Governments of Argentina and Mexico signed this Tuesday (19.3.2019) an agreement that regulates automobile trade between both countries, establishing the continuity of the quota system for the next three years. This new agreement replaces Protocol V of ACE 55, which established free automotive trade between Argentina and Mexico as of today, and was signed by Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie and the Mexican Ambassador to Argentina, Mabel Gómez Oliver.
The new Protocol establishes that both countries will be able to sell vehicles duty-free for a value of US$ 701 million during 2019; US$ 737 million in 2020, and US$ 774 million in 2021. This represents an increase with respect to the current quota of 10% in 2019 and an additional 5% in 2020 and 2021.
The general guidelines of this agreement between Argentina and Mexico were established by the Minister of Production and Labor of the Nation, Dante Sica, and the Secretary of Economy of Mexico, Graciela Márquez Colin, in the meeting they held in Mexico City on February 6.
The understanding reached by the negotiators of both countries is that free trade in cars will be accompanied by an improvement in the conditions of access to the Mexican market for Argentine products, which will be achieved within the framework of the ongoing negotiations for the expansion and deepening of ACE 6, which are expected to be completed before the end of the year..
“The Argentine Government expects that, as a result of this negotiation, we will have established the bases for an ambitious renegotiation of ACE 6, which will equalize the market access conditions for Argentine products with high export potential to Mexico, with those already enjoyed by imports from this country in Argentina,” said the Secretary of Foreign Trade, Marisa Bircher, referring to the result of the negotiation.
For his part, the Secretary of International Economic Relations, Horacio Reyser, stated: “The agreement signed today by Foreign Minister Faurie is an integral part of the negotiation process with Mexico and aims at a more balanced and deeper bilateral trade, which also contemplates access to the Mexican market for agro-industrial products from our country, which currently do not enjoy preferential access.”
Mexico is a strategic partner for Argentina. Although bilateral trade already exceeds US$ 3.000 billion per year, there is still much potential for growth. The current ACE 6 covers less than 50% of products and only 15% have full tariff preferences, excluding important Argentine export sectors.
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