Argentina Import Measures: How a Porsche is Worth Peanuts

Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), 2021

In recent years, the Argentine economy has been affected by deficit situations in the balance of payments, which has forced the government to impose external restrictions such as limitations or controls on imports, restrictions on access to foreign currency, among other factors. The restrictive measures have affected numerous national industries that, for their production process, require machinery, parts and supplies that are not produced in the country. One of the industries that have been affected by import restrictions is the automobile industry, which has been one of the most important because of its contribution, not only due to the employment of labor, but also the generation of revenues due to vehicle exports.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), established in 1975, provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition. IFPRI's strategic research aims to foster a climate-resilient and sustainable food supply; promote healthy diets and nutrition for all; build inclusive and efficient markets, trade systems, and food industries; transform agricultural and rural economies; and strengthen institutions and governance. Gender is integrated in all the Institute's work. Partnerships, communications, capacity strengthening, and data and knowledge management are essential components to translate IFPRI's research from action to impact. The Institute's regional and country programs play a critical role in responding to demand for food policy research and in delivering holistic support for country-led development. IFPRI collaborates with partners around the world.

Legal-Economic Institutions edited by N. Faghih & A. Samadi, Springer, 2021

For developing countries, the Uruguay Round had mixed results: some positive, some negative, and some negotiating areas only made marginal progress. In our view, adoption of the WTO rules for administering import barriers on contingent protection (mainly antidumping and countervailing measures) entailed a major positive institutional shift away from the high degree of trade policy arbitrariness that prevailed before. In contrast, strong pressures against liberalization of agricultural trade resulted in the failure of this Round to establish rules on primary agricultural export barriers. Included among these are escalated export taxes that entail input subsidies. This chapter reviews the experience of importing countries’ contingent protection measures that sought to compensate the input subsidies from escalated export taxes in biodiesel imports from Argentina. The end result of a WTO that is empty of rules on primary agricultural export barriers has been the implementation of arbitrary policies taken by both the exporting and some importing countries. We conclude that in much the same way that WTO rules on import barriers reduced the high degree of arbitrariness that used to characterize developing countries’ import-substitution policies, multilateral rules on agricultural export barriers would imply a further positive institutional change for the benefit of both exporting and importing countries.

For developing countries, the Uruguay Round had mixed results: some positive, some negative, and some negotiating areas only made marginal progress. In our view, adoption of the WTO rules for administering import barriers on contingent protection (mainly antidumping and countervailing measures) entailed a major positive institutional shift away from the high degree of trade policy arbitrariness that prevailed before. In contrast, strong pressures against liberalization of agricultural trade resulted in the failure of this Round to establish rules on primary agricultural export barriers. Included among these are escalated export taxes that entail input subsidies. This chapter reviews the experience of importing countries' contingent protection measures that sought to compensate the input subsidies from escalated export taxes in biodiesel imports from Argentina. The end result of a WTO that is empty of rules on primary agricultural export barriers has been the implementation of arbitrary policies taken by both the exporting and some importing countries. We conclude that in much the same way that WTO rules on import barriers reduced the high degree of arbitrariness that used to characterize developing countries' import-substitution policies, multilateral rules on agricultural export barriers would imply a further positive institutional change for the benefit of both exporting and importing countries.

2010

At the turn of the last century, the Argentine economy was on a path to prosperity that never fully developed. International trade and trade policies are often identified as a major culprit. In this paper, we review the history of Argentine trade policy to uncover its exceptional features and to explore its contribution to the Argentine debacle. Our analysis tells a story of bad trade policies, rooted in distributional conflict and shaped by changes in constraints, that favored industry over agriculture in a country with a fundamental comparative advantage in agriculture. While the anti-export bias impeded productivity growth in agriculture, the import substitution strategy was not successful in promoting an efficient industrialization. In the end, Argentine growth never took-off. Keywords Tariff protection Á Export taxes on agriculture Á Anti-export bias JEL Classification F13 Á F14 We thank Rafael Di Tella and Edward Glaeser for encouraging us to write this chapter. We appreciate the superb work done by Natalia Porto in the coordination of all the data collection effort. Nicolas Botan, Laura Jaitman, and Ivan Torre provided excellent research assistance. Comments from Alberto Porto and seminar participants at the ''Argentine Exceptionalism'' conference at Harvard University are greatly appreciated.

Working Papers, 2008

Downloadable! While tariff and quota barriers in agricultural, food and manufactured products have been declining due to the proliferation of multilateral trade agreements, there is increasing debate regarding the impact of product and process standards and technical regulations ...

2008

This paper is about the Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) in Argentina with an effort to have an approach close to the political economy, with particular emphasis to the "Political" and not to "Economy". All the possible particularities of the Argentinian case will be taken into consideration.

The Uruguay Round Agreements established rules that shifted the way petitions for import barriers should be administered. After nearly a quarter century since the completion of this Round, the consistent application of these multilateral rules through specialized government offices have defined approximately the circumstances under which private sector petitions for higher import barriers would and would not be accepted. In relation to the historical experience with the formulation and implementation of trade policies, this represents several steps forward in the building of sound trade institutions. But the Uruguay Round fell short of establishing regulations on most agricultural export barriers including escalated export taxes meaning tax rates that are higher on primary intermediate inputs than on the final product. This tax escalation translates into input subsidies that benefit exports of the agro-processing industries that use distorted low-priced inputs. During the early millennium years, the accelerated growth of Argentina's nascent biodiesel industry was sustained by the low prices that producers paid for soybeans and soybean oil. Eventually, biodiesel producers in importing countries sought to compensate this input subsidy through antidumping and antisubsidy barriers. Nevertheless, in a dispute opened by Argentina against antidumping measures imposed by the EU, the WTO Panel and Appellate Body concluded that these subsidies could not be compensated the way the EU had done. The paper quantifies the dollar value of Argentina's input subsidies and discusses the trade policy actions taken by importing countries and how they have reverberated on Argentina's biodiesel exports as well as in the WTO Dispute Settlement Body. The discussion lends support to those who have stressed the importance of including rules on agricultural export barriers. JELCodes: F13, F14, Q18.

Social Science Research Network, 2005

expectation that the WTO Dispute Settlement mechanism will clarify them. Third, an overvalued currency heightened the industry's problems. In the case of footwear, the decline in imports following the recent devaluation was more important than that following the implementation of earlier relief measures. Fourth, the political economy of liberalization also indicates the need for regional agreements to include adequate transition mechanisms that will facilitate adjustment to free trade and to maintain support for it.