Argentina on Wednesday signed a US-led statement pledging to confront industrial overcapacity in autos, batteries, chemicals, chips and solar panels, a push widely read as aimed at China, though the text never names it.
The statement was agreed by senior officials on the margins of the OECD Trade Committee, the Paris-based forum of mostly rich economies, and announced by the Office of the US Trade Representative, led by Jamieson Greer. The signatories are the United States, Argentina, Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Poland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.
The signers describe "structural excess capacity" as production that exceeds global demand, would not exist under market conditions and is sustained by government policies. They say it distorts prices, deters new entrants and leaves trading partners dependent on one supplier. They commit to "dedicated sectoral platforms" to examine each sector and to explore "complementary actions" to defend their economies, and invite other countries to join. They set no tariffs, quotas or penalties, so nothing in the text changes what Argentina may import.
Reuters reported that China, Brazil, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa, all G20 members, did not sign, and that a G20 trade ministers' meeting in Milwaukee last week failed to agree on the issue. Brazil is Argentina's partner in Mercosur, the South American trade bloc. Greer said the global trading system is "completely out of whack, and President Trump is fixing it with likeminded partners." China rejects the charge that its industrial policies create overcapacity.
Greer and Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno signed the US-Argentina trade agreement in February, which takes effect only after both countries complete their approval procedures. The signatories commit to meet at a technical level before December 2026 to draw up terms of reference and share data on the five sectors.