[Rappler Philippines] Argentina’s EU‑Style Proposal rattles MERCOSUR

On Saturday, Argentina proposed an EU-like economic integration for MERCOSUR countries, referring to it as the “best practice.”  This received a storm of complaints from the rest of the present countries, with Uruguay declaring, “let’s just stop talking about that!” 

In a statement to the Rappler, Uruguay questioned Argentina’s proposal, saying “they have a very high inflation, so how can they propose more integration?“ Argentina later clarified,  “it only meant deeper economic integration, not other integration.” 

The nation remained openly frustrated by not being able to join trade agreements with the US outside of MERCOSUR. 

Instead Brazil’s proposal for a gradual exemption of the Tariffs is discussed. The current proposal foresees each country lowering the value of their external tariff exemption by 2,5% each year until it reaches 10%. According to Argentina, in the present countries, exemptions from the common MERCOSUR tariff currently range from minimal to extremely high. Brazil believes that the AEC exemptions  undermine the idea of a common MERCOSUR market and should therefore be removed.  

Bolivia claims that it is “so difficult” to decide because it is a political decision, not just economic or legal. 

Moreover, MERCOSUR works with unanimity, meaning all countries have to agree on a proposal despite everyone having their own initiatives.