The 8 keys to the trade and investment agreement between the United States and Argentina

The Government of Javier Milei announced this Thursday that it signed the trade and investment agreement between Argentina and the United States. It occurs while Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno is in Washington, where he had already signed an agreement on rare earths. The trade agreement has implications on tariffs, the meat sector and technology.

The Foreign Ministry itself was the first to disseminate a summary of the agreement with the United States, whose framework agreement had already been signed last November. Below are the salient points of the document.

“USA will eliminate reciprocal tariffs for 1,675 Argentine products in a wide range of productive sectors, which will allow exports to be recovered for 1,013 million dollars,” said the Government of Javier Milei.

“This framework improves the insertion of our country in supply chains, generates new opportunities through the growth of exports of products already traded and favors the opening of new markets thanks to better access conditions,” said the Foreign Ministry.

In the statement, the Government assured that “the United States will grant an unprecedented extension to 100,000 tons for preferential access of beef to its market.”

They estimate that this will translate, only by 2026, into “a additional 80,000 tonswhich are added to the 20,000 tons that our country already has, which will allow Argentine exports of this product to increase by nearly 800 million dollars. They will enter the United States with a 0% tariff.

“The United States Government reaffirmed its commitment to promptly review the tariffs on steel and aluminum, established under Section 232 of that country’s Trade Expansion Act,” the statement added.

The United States pledged to support “the financing of investments in critical sectors of Argentina“. It will be through the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank) and the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), in collaboration with the American private sector.

As a counterpart to the removal of US tariffsArgentina will also eliminate “tariffs for 221 tariff positions.” These are machines, transport equipment, medical devices and chemical products, according to the Government’s count.

In addition, “it will reduce another 20 positions to 2%, mainly auto partsand will grant quotas for vehicles, meat and other agricultural products.”

“These commitments aim to improve systemic competitiveness by reducing or eliminating tariffs on inputs and capital goods and simplifying procedures, which will guarantee conditions of predictability for the sectors involved,” they justified.

The trade and investment agreement also affects digital trade. “It establishes a safe and favorable framework for the activities of startups, fintechs and technology companies,” said the Foreign Ministry.

As the United States had already requested in the framework agreement last November, Argentina adopts “the most modern international standards on intellectual property.” This measure aims to “deepen the debureaucratization of the sector to expand opportunities in innovation and promotion of Argentine talent.”

The Milei Government said that the agreement signed this Thursday is the “first instrument of its kind in the region that incorporates investment commitments.” They highlighted that the United States has “more than 330 companies operating” in the country.

“The initiative positions Argentina, the first country in South America to sign an agreement of this magnitude, among a select group of countries with preferential access to the US market, strengthens its international insertion and promotes a more balanced association with the main economy and the largest importer in the world,” they added.

And they concluded in this regard: “Together, these instruments strengthen the Argentine export profile, promote the increase in commercial exchange and generate better conditions for the arrival of long-term investments.”