GENEVA — Argentina’s textiles and apparel sector is playing a vital role in the robust recovery of its economy after the economic meltdown of 2001 to 2002, one of the country’s top trade officials said.
However, a report by the World Trade Organization said that, while average applied tariffs for industrial goods were around 9.9 percent, the rates for textiles and apparel averaged 25.5 percent and some lines were subject to the top rate of 35 percent duty. These included carpets; woven, knitted or crocheted fabrics, and certain apparel, accessories, textiles and footwear.
Nevertheless, textiles and footwear have played a crucial role in generating employment, and exports are on the rise, said Néstor Stancanelli, Argentina’s deputy secretary of state for international economic negotiations.
But the country’s trade deficit in apparel and textiles is still substantial; imports run close to $800 million and exports, around $100 million, Stancanelli said.
Argentina’s economy, which has posted 17 straight quarters of growth and an estimated 40.2 percent increase in gross domestic product since the worst depression in its history, grew by around 9 percent last year, according to government estimates.
The WTO’s 150 member countries lauded the dramatic turnaround by the South American nation during a two-day review last week.
“We would like to acknowledge Argentina’s impressive economic growth on the heels of the devastating 2002 crisis,” said Peter Allgeier, deputy U.S. trade representative.
The economy, Allgeier said, grew at an annual rate of more than 9 percent from 2004 to 2006, and he added that this had been fueled by “strong domestic demand, particularly investment, as well as from an international environment that favored export growth.”
In 2005, U.S. exports to Argentina increased by 21 percent and imports from Argentina expanded by 21 percent, Allgeier noted.
The U.S. and other trading partners urged Argentina to eliminate export taxes on a range of products, including a 10 percent duty on various textile fibers such as wool, cotton and flax. Although such taxes are allowed under WTO rules and used by some countries to raise revenues, trade economists generally consider them counterproductive.