Argentina on Monday lashed out at a US decision to suspend the South American country’s trade benefits over two disputes involving US investors.
The suspension of Argentina’s status as a beneficiary of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which waives import duties on certain goods from developing countries, will be effective in 60 days.
It is a “unilateral decision” taken under the pressure from US companies, the Argentine Foreign Ministry issued a statement.
The rebuttal came after US President Barack Obama announced the decision, accusing Argentina of failing to pay more than 300 million US dollars in compensation awards in the two trade disputes under the relevant verdicts by the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
In response, the Argentine ministry said its country would not be forced to make a decision that violates national law regulating compensation awards.
The two disputes involve Azurix Corp, a Houston-based water services company, and Blue Ridge Investment, a subsidiary of Bank of America, which are seeking compensation for some measures the Argentine government took a decade ago.
The United States imported 477 million dollars of goods from Argentina under the GSP program in 2011, which accounted for around 11 percent of total US imports from the country last year, US media reported.