U.S. May Hike Tariffs on Argentine Imports

Escalating a trade dispute with one of its closest allies in South America, the Clinton administration threatened to impose higher tariffs on $260 million of imports from Argentina unless it does more to protect U.S. drug patents. Acting U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said the sanctions would go into effect after March 1, after a public comment period to determine which Argentine imports to target. That will give both countries time to negotiate a settlement to the dispute that involves complaints by U.S. pharmaceutical companies that their products are not being protected by Argentina’s current copyright laws. America imported $1.76 billion in products from Argentina in 1995 with about $520 million of those goods coming into the country duty-free under a program known as the Generalized System of Tariffs. Barshefsky said unless the current dispute is resolved satisfactorily, the administration will withdraw 50% of Argentina’s duty-free GSP privileges.