The United States will lift tariffs on some of the food products, as well as other imports by Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, and El Salvador in exchange for better access to the markets in the United States by American companies.
The framework agreements that are bound to be settled in the next fortnight are geared towards lowering prices of bananas, coffee, and other foodstuffs of the region.
“Yet through all these deals, the ones we have had in Asia, the ones we have today, we retain the tariffs, we provide some tariff relief on certain products or goods, but still we liberalize the foreign markets in ways that they never had been before,” a government official said on 13th November.
Following Democratic victories in New Jersey, New York, and Virginia in recent elections, which in part can be attributed to cost-of-living issues due to tariffs by President Donald Trump, the administration has again given attention to the issue of affordability, citing more expensive prices on policies by the previous President, Joe Biden.
Instead, economists claim the Trump-imposed sweeping import tariffs have contributed to price increases in the country, as well as in most countries across the globe.
What has been the reaction of the involved countries?
Deals were welcomed by the officials in Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Ecuador.
According to Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno, the agreement would make conditions that would lead to increased US investment in Argentina and credited the libertarian President of Argentina, Javier Milei, with his belief in the agreement.
The ambassador of El Salvador to Washington declared the two to be sister nations that had reestablished their relationships on the platform of reliability and self-determination, and the Guatemalan ambassador asserted that the agreement placed the country as an even more competitive and attractive country to invest in.
In the meantime, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned a comparable structure with Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira on Thursday.
According to Vieira, who was quoted in Washington, the Secretary of State said that they were studying the bilateral matters with Brazil with care and time, and desired to settle them soon, and an answer would come very soon, either tomorrow or next week.
Brazil is the biggest coffee producer and exporter in the world, and it is also exporting its coffee to the US; however, at this time, with the crushing 50% taxes introduced by Trump.
