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At the Council for Trade in Goods meeting on 30 March 2012, 14 members jointly expressed their deepening concern about Argentina’s import-licensing measures. Argentina maintained these measures were compatible with the WTO, and rejected the joint statement as unjustified.


The United States, also on behalf of 12 other members (Australia, the European Union, Israel, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and Turkey), read a joint statement expressing deepening concerns regarding what it said were trade-restrictive measures taken by Argentina. It said that since 2008, Argentina had greatly expanded the list of products subject to non-automatic import licensing requirements, including laptops, home appliances, air conditioners, tractors, machinery and tools, autos and auto parts, plastics, chemical, tyres, toys, footwear, textiles and apparel, luggage, bicycles and paper products. It said that in January 2012, Argentina announced regulations requiring pre-registration, review and approval of each and every import transaction. It said that these regulations were creating long delays and adding huge costs for many exporters. It urged Argentina to remove these trade restrictions, adding that these members reserve their rights to pursue this matter further. Mexico said that it was joining the statement because Argentina's measures were having a serious impact on Mexican exporters.

China said that it hoped that the measures are only temporary as a large number of its exporters has also been affected. Chile, Colombia, Peru, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, China also expressed concerns.

Argentina rejected the joint statement as unjustified. It maintained that the measures were compatible with WTO rules, adding that it had undertaken new measures to facilitate the processing of imports. It said that it had responded to these concerns in previous meetings of the Goods Council and the Import Licensing Committee. It noted that its imports rose by 30% in 2011 — the highest increase among G-20 countries and evidence that it was not restricting imports. Argentina expressed concern about the threat to the use of legitimate policy tools by developing countries to promote development, especially during the current economic crisis. It said that developed countries were the ones restricting trade through the use of subsidies and tariff peaks.