Uruguay veep: Trade relations with Argentina 'at their worst moment'

Uruguayan vice-president Danilo Astori said that trade relations with Argentina are “at their worst moment in a long time” and that the local Government’s recent measures on tour packagers greatly affect the neighbouring country.

“I don’t want to meddle in sovereignties that I don’t belong to, but I will say that this greatly affects Uruguay,” he stated.

The former Economy Minister during the Tabaré Vázquez administration considered that “economic-trade relations with Argentina are at their worst moment in a long time.”

“Argentina is moving forward with an economic policy that is very protectionist when it comes to international relations, highly interventionist and excessively regulatory,” he said.

Astori recalled that his government took action to support tourism in an effort to counterbalance Argentina’s actions and said that they were successful “because there were no dramatic drops in the influx of Argentine tourists.”

“Maybe they spent less money, but they still came,” he concluded.