Weekly Report - 1 March 2012 (WR-12-09)

ARGENTINA | Buenos Aires boycotts UK goods. On 29 February the Argentine state news agency Telam reported that Industry Minister Débora Giorgi had asked several Argentine companies to substitute imports from the UK with alternative supplies, effectively amounting to a boycott. Although the move is in line with the restrictive import policies being implemented by the government of President Cristina Fernández for the better part of two years now, it clearly has political implications, amidst the recent increase in diplomatic tensions over the Falklands/Malvinas archipelago.
    According to the industry ministry, the new measures are designed to halt the continued deterioration in Argentina’s trade surplus with the UK. Notably, however, the ministry also said that Argentina also wants to favour relations with “those who respect the territorial integrity of the country, its sovereign claims and the resources that belong to it”. According to Argentina’s national statistics’ institute (Indec), Argentina’s imports from the UK were valued at a mere US$664.2m in 2011, constituting barely 0.9% of its total imports. Its exports to the UK were valued at US$779.5m.

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