La Nacion has a great article today detailing how our trading partner to the north has put the kibosh on Argentina´s ban of imported food that has a domestically produced counterpart.
Interior Commerce Minister Moreno opened the border yesterday to six truckloads of Brazilian chicken which had been held up for several days waiting for permission from the Argentine health ministry.
I don´t know if the chicken was fresh, frozen, or canned ...but I´m not going to be buying any in the supermarket for a few weeks!
The timing of the decision to allow the stranded trucks was interesting. It seemed to be simutaneous with President Kirchner´s remarks to a joint meeting of the EU and Mercosur in which she denied that Argentina restricted imports in any way.
Brazil is the largest source of imported food in Argentina and is a Mercosur trading partner.
Although Argentina runs an enormous trade surplus regarding food exports to the world, Moreno told an angry Brazilian trade delegation that "the objective of the Kirchner administration is to reduce food imports by U$300 million from a current estimated total of U$ 1 billion.
The Brazilian Minister of Development and Trade, Miguel Jorge, warned last week that his country could take reprisals against Argentina in the matter.
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