Gov't believes Brazil's move 'affects over 50% of automotive bilateral trade'

Industry Minister Débora Giorgi said that by applying non-automatic licenses to the automotive and autoparts sector, the Brazilian Industry and Development Ministry is acting “in an inconvenient way and without notice, affecting over 50 percent of bilateral trade.”

Giorgi assured she was alerted of the decision to remove automatic licenses to some of the models manufactured in the country by the local private automotive sector. “Last February, when Argentina added 200 new products to the list of those that would not be benefitted with automatic licenses, the Government let Brazil know 10 days before the official announcement and the measure was enacted 30 days later,” the minister said.

Giorgi said that the Brazilian Government’s measures have serious repercussions on the automotive and auto parts sectors, where Argentina is registering a growing deficit. On the first quarter of 2011 it reached over 1 billion dollars, doubling the amount reached a year before then, she explained.

“This kind of behaviour hinders the natural dialogue between the Mercosur’s two largest business partners, and critically affects the commitment to balance the bilateral scale and achieve a harmonic industrialization that both presidents reached.