Last July, after months of negotiations, the governments of Donald Trump and Javier Miley announced an agreement to “deepen bilateral cooperation in the field of trade and investment” between the United States and Argentina. Buoyed by the ideological affinity between the presidents — the same one that provided the Republican’s recent economic bailout for Milley — the agreement presented is actually a “milestone” for a trade agreement that will still be needed.
The declaration was first published by Casablanca and included the removal of agricultural and non-agricultural barriers, opening of markets and regulatory amendments in several industries, livestock, agriculture, mining and other fields. While it details several concessions in Argentina, its counterpart in the United States is subject to future and final tariffs. Later, Casa Rosada made its own announcement and confirmed an agreement to expand beef exports.
The official communication known in Washington indicates that Trump and Milley “reaffirm the strategic alliance” between the two countries based on “shared democratic values and a shared vision of free enterprise, private initiative, and open markets.” In Buenos Aires, the executive highlighted that Argentina “joins a selected group of countries with trade preferences, which constitutes a deep recognition of the Miley economic programme.”
The US declaration states in its most decisive paragraphs that “Argentina will grant preferential market access to exports of goods from the United States, including certain medicines, chemical products, machinery, information technology products, medical devices, automobiles, and a wide range of agricultural products.”
In this same separate part of the document, translated Definitions (aranceles), the only US concession in the South American country, is detailed: “The United States will cancel reciprocal agreements on certain natural resources not available (in the EE UU) and unpatented substances for pharmaceutical use.” Furthermore, “it will be able to favorably consider the impact of the Agreement on national security, including taking it into account when adopting trade measures.”
The countries commit, according to the text of the EE UU, “to improve conditions for bilateral and reciprocal access to livestock markets.” The South American country is opening its market to “US live cattle” and will, within a year, allow “access to the US poultry market.” It also agrees “not to restrict market access for products using certain cheese and meat categories.”
The Argentine statement stressed another matter. “A significant expansion of Argentine beef access to the US market has been agreed upon, and we are working together to remove barriers in bilateral agri-food trade,” he says. Differences between documents can be determined by each government distributing them for domestic consumption and to avoid internal disputes: doubts will be resolved when the official details of the agreement are known.
An important aspect of the agreement is for Argentina to give up, without consideration, its responsibilities for quality control in industries such as pharmaceuticals, food and automobiles. “Argentina will allow the entry of US products that comply with applicable US or international standards (…), without additional requirements for compliance assessment, and will continue to remove barriers in branches that affect trade in priority areas,” the statement issued by Casa Blanca said.
There is also a section dedicated to trade considerations and opportunities in this document, where the key questions are stated: “Argentina and the United States will cooperate to facilitate investment and trade in critical minerals (in particular, lithium). Both countries will also agree to work to stabilize global soybean trade.” In the field of soybean production, the Argentine and American economies are competitive, and their largest customer is China. With the Asian giant, EE UU highlights global geopolitical control, and its advance in South America is a knockout blow at the public table.
The document concludes by noting that the Trump and Milley governments “will work quickly to finalize the text of the agreement for their company.” The presidents are supposed to meet to formalize the agreement.
During his visit to Corrientes province, 900 kilometers from Buenos Aires, Miley last July noted the “tremendous news” and, although it had not yet been initialed, he said: “The bilateral trade agreement with the United States has just been signed (…) We are deeply committed to making Argentina great again.” Argentine abolitionist Pablo Cerno, who met in Casablanca to publish the agreement, considered that “the agreement creates appropriate conditions for increasing energy efficiency investments in Argentina and includes reducing customs tariffs on major industries, which increases bilateral trade between the two countries.”
Thanks to his unconditional alliance with Trump, Miley has achieved so far that, in terms of trade, the global policy of Republican progress will assume reciprocal tariffs of 10% on Argentine products, a global progress that the United States implemented this year. Just a few weeks ago, financial support from the US government was essential to sustaining Miley’s economic plan ahead of the midterm elections, in which the extreme Derecha law was imposed. You had a similar role in April, when the International Monetary Fund agreed to provide a loan to Argentina. In July of this year, the announcement of the historic agreement sparked multiple celebrations on the part of leaders of official bodies. “Less arancil, more markets, more freedom,” celebrated the new chief of staff, Manuel Adorni.
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