RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian economy minister, Paulo Guedes, said on Friday (6) that Argentina agreed to support a 10% reduction in the Mercosur Common External Tariff (TEC), a longstanding plea of Brazil that the minister sees as a way to provide relief from inflation.
After meeting with the Argentine chancellor, Santiago Andres Cafiero, Guedes said that Paraguay and Uruguay will now consider the tariff reduction.
According to him, there was also an “important decision” that Brazil and Argentina will move toward a “cheap energy shock” by seeking infrastructure financing to bring Argentine gas from the Vaca Muerta reserve into the neighboring country.
“We are going to support Argentina in infrastructure, in the integration of the economy, and they support us in this initial opening movement where we are going to lower tariffs by 10%,” Guedes said.
The minister had been reiterating in public speeches the intention to cut the TEC by 10% in an attempt to modernize Mercosur, making clear Argentina’s antagonistic position and even saying that whoever was not going in the same direction should withdraw from the bloc.