Pursuits
Macri Crashes Against Reality in Bid to Open Argentina’s Economy
- President Macri starts to dismantle years of protectionism
- Opposition mounts from industry, labor unions and politicians
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He took office promising to lift the trade barriers that made Argentina one of the most closed economies in the world. Eleven months later, President Mauricio Macri is finding that unraveling more than a decade of protectionism is easier to do on the campaign trail than in reality.
Even steps to remove the most extreme and arbitrary restrictions on imports, which the World Trade Organization had ruled illegal, met with opposition from industry and some backtracking by Macri. Now, the president is preparing to take the fight to a whole new level and reduce import tariffs of as much as 35 percent on electronic goods, including televisions, mobile phones and computers.