Mr Hector Mendez who this week takes over as the head of the country's biggest federation of industries has propagated setting up of non-tariff barriers to put a brake on unprecedented imports to protect itself form the global crisis.
He said, “If you are facing disproportionate and an increase in unnecessary imports, restrictions must be imposed and we must first safeguard a reasonable quota of the market and later adopt a collective position regarding free trade”.
Mr Mendez said that he supports the protectionist stance of the trade body 'UIA' and which is currently negotiating agreements with similar organisations from Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay, following the Argentine government's decision to impose non-tariff barriers.
He added by saying that, the Brazilian government as well as the trade bodies were smart enough to sing the non-protectionist tune, but at the same time Brazilian customs were stopping trucks carrying cargo from Argentina at its borders.
Argentina was one of the first countries in the world to set up protectionist barriers in late 2008, particularly to prevent imports of textiles and clothing from China and other Asian countries, but in the process has created a friction among Mercosur countries.