This morning, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni announced that "the national government will completely eliminate tariffs on cell phone imports, which currently stand at 16%."
🚨[NOW] THE GOVERNMENT WILL ELIMINATE IMPORT TARIFFS ON CELL PHONES
➡️ Internal taxes on imported cell phones, televisions, and air conditioners will also be reduced from 19% to 9.5%, and on those produced in Tierra del Fuego from 9.5% to 0%. pic.twitter.com/Ci2D8W0eEg
“This will happen in two stages. In the first, tariffs will be lowered from 16% to 8%, effective immediately upon publication in the official gazette, which will be scheduled for Thursday or Friday. In the second, tariffs will be eliminated entirely, i.e., reduced to zero, effective January 15, 2026. Additionally, internal taxes on imported cell phones, televisions, and air conditioners will be reduced from 19% to 9.5%. And for those produced in Tierra del Fuego, they will be reduced from 9.5% to 0% , ” Adorni explained.
The disproportion between the magnitude of the tariff liberalization measure granted to the import of foreign technology (from 16% to 0%) and the benefits that the industry promoted in Tierra del Fuego will obtain from the elimination of internal taxes to offset its local production costs (from 9.5% to 0%) is highly unequal and significant, enough to raise the level of concern among the workers of the Río Grande Section of the Metalworkers' Union about what the immediate future holds.
Agenda Malvinas consulted with journalist and Hitachi union representative Pablo Ibáñez , one of the most highly trained, knowledgeable, and qualified professionals regarding the operation of the Tierra del Fuego Industrial Subregime and its companies established under the Economic and Tax Promotion Law No. 19,6740 , and what is being debated within the Tierra del Fuego Special Customs Area Commission.
We asked you to know the percentage of market share in the national market , which means the sale of cell phones, air conditioners and TVs produced in Tierra del Fuego , and we asked you to give us an approximation of the estimated drop in Tierra del Fuego production and the impact of the tariff measure .
Pablo Ibáñez told us that 60% of cell phones purchased by Argentinians are produced in the southern province. And in the case of air conditioning and televisions , the figure rises to 98% .
By January 2026, when the tax relief is fully implemented, "a third of our colleagues' salaries (around 2,000) would be affected," the journalist and metalworker said.
"The decline in cell phone production on the island would be complete starting in January of next year. We're waiting for the fine print of the decree, but some companies are already announcing direct losses. In the case of TVs and air conditioners, there's minimal profit margin," Ibáñez explained.
This is no coincidence. These are concrete facts. The three governments that signed agreements with Great Britain in favor of colonialism in the Malvinas and to the detriment of Argentina's sovereign interests are the ones that reduced or eliminated the industrial benefits that guaranteed the settlement of Tierra del Fuego Province, a state policy that had been enacted since 1972. Carlos Menem did so through the Madrid Treaties I and II, signed in 1989 and 1990; Mauricio Macri through the Foradori-Duncan Pact of 2016; and Javier Milei through the Mondino-Lammy Agreement of 2024.
