Our Foundation regrets the official decision to withdraw from its Mercosur partners in the negotiation of new free trade agreements. This decision, adopted in the limited scope of the presidential environment, sets Argentina off the path it should follow to integrate into the world and promote its development. In addition, it has put the country on the brink of its definitive abandonment of Mercosur. The opening policy is now well understood by the governments of Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay and it was by that of Argentina when an agreement with the European Union was rightly sought and reached, which must still be validated by the Parliaments.
Argentina should establish, as a State policy, an open economic model, integrated into international trade, which aims to generate a permanent improvement in productivity and competitiveness.[1] This is the only way that can ensure growth in real wages and employment. In this way not only exports would be promoted, but also, through greater purchasing power, also the domestic market. (Our complete proposal)
Protectionism is at the core of the chronic stagnation of our economy. The benefits of openness are counterintuitive for the common man, a circumstance that has been and is taken advantage of by those who advocate and privilege themselves with a closed economy.
Mercosur must converge to a uniform and moderate common external tariff and to an institutional structure compatible with the concretion of the free trade agreements that are being negotiated, and others. Argentina should not be left out, because if it does so it will have no other destination than the backward club.
[1] “Foreign policy”. Fundación Libertad y Progreso
