Tariffs concerned about rising prices in Colombia - Sectors

Tariffs concerned about rising prices in Colombia – Sectors – Economy

Mitchell G. Patton3 years ago

The president of the Colombian American Chamber of Commerce, AmCham Colombia, María Claudia Lacouture expressed her concern about President Gustavo Petro’s proposal to increase tariffs in the country.

According to Petro, “in the face of interest rate hikes, higher tariffs must be responded to to protect the industrial and agricultural sectors, and to protect national jobs,” he said.

But according to Lacouture, if tariffs are increased for certain foreign products, prices to Colombians are excluded and, on the other hand, the countries of origin have the possibility of taking proportional measures in order to level the playing field and, in turn, impose tariffs on Colombian products that are exported to those markets.

#Happy Saturday Let’s talk about #duty. These are taxes that are charged to products that come from abroad, that are not produced in Colombia or whose local manufacturing is insufficient and are necessary for the industry and/or improve the lives of Colombians. (hello) @AmChamCol

— Mom Claudia Lacouture (@mclacouture) May 13, 2023

President of AmCham Colombia and Aliadas

The directive was emphatic, in that these taxes that are charged to products that come from abroad, that are not produced in Colombia or whose local manufacturing is insufficient and are necessary for the industry and in some cases would mean a violation of some of the 15 Free Trade agreements that the country has.

”If the objective is to protect the national industry and employment, the path is to strengthen the competitiveness and productivity of the national industry, how? Facilitating access to inputs that are not produced in the country – not increasing their value with more tariffs” , said.

For Lacouture, increasing competitiveness includes improvements in road and port infrastructure, customs efficiency, and incentives to produce the inputs that our companies import here.
For example, in the case of the United States, 70 percent of what we import is not produced in Colombia.

“Strengthening the competitiveness of the national industry involves offering favorable conditions for business viability, such as not increasing labor costs for companies, facilitating local chains and outsourcing with formal #employment“, he pointed out.