Argentina Expands Trade Protection To Restrict Imports Of Footwear And Other Products.

According to the Latin American media, Miguel Peirano, Minister of economy and production in Argentina, told the press recently that the government has adopted a series of new trade protection measures aimed at limiting the low price commodities from Asia to protect its related industries. Peirano said the government will set higher import tariffs on products such as textiles, tires, bicycles, footwear, toys, auto parts, leather products and synthetic leather. These measures are aimed at "protecting domestic labour intensive industries so as to create more job opportunities". A newly released communique by the Ministry of economy and production said that in the first 7 months of this year, the import of synthetic leather, textiles, tires and footwear in Argentina increased considerably, and this growth was driven by "low price products". Argentina Customs Commissioner Ricardo Echegaray also told the press that the measures adopted by the government were mainly directed against China, India, Pakistan and Southeast Asian countries. Editors Baidu (baidu.com) said that because of the low price quoted by Asian exporters, the Argentina customs will impose a new tariff rate on 5000 imported products according to the "standard price" (reference price in international trade) from the 22 day of this month. According to statistics, the volume of trade between Argentina and China has risen from 250 million US dollars in 1990 to 6 billion 630 million US dollars in 2006. In the first half of this year, Argentina's exports to China increased by 31%, to $2 billion 160 million, and from China's imports to $1 billion 998 million, to maintain a favorable balance of trade.