By David Lawder
WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Argentina will give preferential market access to U.S. goods exports as part of a new trade and investment agreement that prohibits barriers to digital trade and enhances cooperation on economic and national security issues, the U.S. Trade Representative's office said on Thursday.
The document signed by USTR Jamieson Greer and Argentina's Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno provides more details on a framework trade deal that was first agreed on November 13.
The agreement will cut or eliminate tariffs on many U.S. goods, including medicines, medical devices, chemicals, machinery, motor vehicles, information technology products and a wide range of American agriculture products, USTR said.
Argentina also will accept U.S. safety and regulatory standards for imported goods, such as for autos and medical devices, and will accept U.S. Department of Agriculture food safety standards for meat and poultry, USTR said. Argentina also has committed to not impose customs duties on cross-border data transmissions or impose a digital services tax aimed at U.S. technology companies.
On agriculture, USTR said Argentina within a year will open its market to U.S. poultry and poultry products and work to simplify red tape for U.S. exporters of beef and pork.
Argentina also agreed, according to the document, not to restrict U.S. exporters' use of certain cheese names, like asiago, feta or camembert, which the European Union labels geographic indications only available to their producing regions.
The agreement also calls for closer cooperation on enforcing export controls on sensitive dual use items that can have military applications, while ensuring the integrity of Argentina's telecommunications infrastructure.
The document does not name China specifically, but USTR said it would enhance U.S.-Argentina cooperation in combatting the unfair trade practices of third countries.
MINERALS COOPERATION
Argentina also committed to work with its provincial governments to facilitate investment by U.S. companies in critical mineral projects and prioritize the U.S. as a trading partner for its copper, lithium and other critical minerals over "market manipulating economies or enterprises" -- another reference to China.
In October, the U.S. Treasury launched a $20 billion currency swap line to help Argentine President Javier Milei stabilize the peso and see his party prevail in parliamentary elections, a vote hailed by U.S. President Donald Trump as helping to cement Argentina's economic recovery.
"The deepening partnership between President Trump and President Milei serves as a model of how countries in the Americas, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, can advance our shared ambitions and safeguard our economic and national security," Greer said in a statement.
Quirno said in a social media message that the agreement was a "great achievement" for the two countries.
Earlier on Thursday, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to end the $20 billion currency swap, arguing that it was supposed to be a temporary measure.
(Reporting by Natalia Siniawski, Editing by Iñigo Alexander and Diane Craft)
