Argentina seeks to renegotiate US trade deal, citing Supreme Court tariff ruling

Argentina's government has told the Trump administration it cannot secure the congressional votes needed to ratify the bilateral trade agreement the two countries signed in February, according to Bloomberg. The disclosure throws into doubt one of the most prominent diplomatic achievements of the Trump-Milei alliance and sets up a standoff between Buenos Aires and Washington over the future of the deal.bloomberg

A Deal in Limbo

President Javier Milei's advisers have cited the US Supreme Court's February ruling striking down Trump's sweeping tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as justification for seeking better terms, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the private talks. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the law did not authorize the president to impose tariffs, a decision that upended much of the trade architecture the agreement was built upon.scotusblog+2

The US-Argentina Agreement on Reciprocal Trade and Investment, or ARTI, was signed on February 5 in Washington by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Argentina's Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno. It eliminated tariffs on more than 1,600 Argentine products exported to the US and over 200 American goods heading south. But more than seven months later, the Milei government has never sent the text to Argentina's congress for a vote.riotimesonline+3

Washington Pushes Back

US policymakers have told Argentina that renegotiation of the trade deal is not on the table, according to Newsquawk. The pushback follows weeks of pressure from Washington urging Buenos Aires to complete ratification. In late August, US Deputy Trade Representative Jeff Goettman traveled to Buenos Aires to meet with Economy Minister Luis Caputo and Foreign Minister Quirno, stressing the need for Argentina to fulfill its domestic legal obligations under the agreement.newsquawk+1

An original timetable agreed by the two presidents called for ratification before April 30, a deadline that passed quietly. Argentine exports to the United States reached nearly $6 billion from January to July, up 38 percent year-over-year, underscoring the economic stakes.riotimesonline

The Tariff Question

The Supreme Court's February 20 ruling invalidated the IEEPA tariffs but did not end US protectionism. Trump immediately imposed a new global tariff under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act, initially at 10 percent and later raised to 15 percent. A White House official said at the time that countries with existing trade deals would face the global Section 122 rate rather than their previously negotiated terms — a shift that may have weakened Argentina's incentive to ratify an agreement whose tariff benefits were partly overtaken by events.bbc+1

The impasse now tests whether the close personal relationship between Trump and Milei, who has been among the US president's most vocal international allies, can survive a concrete policy disagreement.