Senior officials within President Donald Trump‘s administration announced four new “framework” trade agreements with Argentina, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Guatemala on Thursday.
Each nation faced a reciprocal tariff rate of 15% for Ecuador and 10% for Argentina, Guatemala, and El Salvador, which will continue, as Trump renegotiates trade deals with most U.S. trade partners.
The administration claimed that the agreements would be signed within the coming weeks in a press call with reporters.
BESSENT PROMISES RELIEF ON PRICES OF COFFEE AND BANANAS AS TARIFFS BITE
“We expect that the full agreements on reciprocal trade for most of these countries will be signed and publicized within the next two weeks, roughly give or take,” said a senior administration official.
The White House also published joint statements or frameworks for agreements with all four Latin American nations. According to the senior administration official, “All of these agreements share common themes. First of all, they open up further the markets, with respect to U.S. agricultural and industrial products.”
Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei said in a joint statement that “the countries will open their markets to each other on key products.”
“Argentina will provide preferential market access for U.S. goods exports, including certain medicines, chemicals, machinery, information technologies products, medical devices, motor vehicles, and a wide range of agricultural products,” the statement continued.
Trump has faced criticism from American cattle ranchers furious over his proposal to import beef from Argentina. The president also directed a $40 billion stimulus package toward Milei, an ally of his, who has caused some consternation.
The administration official claimed “there’s not some administration plan to have government sponsorship” of Argentine beef into the United States
The joint statement between the two nations said that “Argentina will simplify product registration processes for U.S. beef, beef products, beef offal, and pork products, and will not apply facility registration for imports of U.S. dairy products.”
Although the reciprocal tariff rate for the four nations remains the same, there will be some relief on certain items.
“For Ecuador, for example, bananas, that’s something that they should, they want to ship to us. So we expect the tariff will come off of bananas,” said the senior administration official, echoing other Cabinet members.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also suggested on Wednesday that trade deals for certain food products, such as coffee and bananas, will soon be changed.
During a trip to several Asian nations, Trump signed additional framework agreements with Vietnam and Thailand and published full agreements on reciprocal trade with Malaysia and Cambodia.