Obama says to suspend trade benefits for Argentina

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http://news.yahoo.com/obama-says-suspend-trade-benefits-argentina-154433456.html

By Doug Palmer | Reuters – 1 hr 29 mins agoWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday he was suspending trade benefits for Argentina because of the South American country's failure to pay more than $300 million in compensation awards in two disputes involving American investors.

Obama suspended Argentina, effective in 60 days, from the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences program, which waives import duties on thousands of goods from developing countries.

The United States imported $477 million of goods from Argentina under the GSP program in 2011, which was about 11 percent of total U.S. imports from the country last year.

Argentina's top exports under the program were grape wine, prepared or preserved beef, sugar confections and olive oil. Washington waived about $17.3 million in duties on those goods from Argentina last year.

Obama's decision helps Azurix Corp, a Houston-based water services company, and Blue Ridge Investment, a subsidiary of Bank of America, in their bid for compensation for actions the Argentine government took a decade ago.

It is first time a country has been suspended from the GSP program for failing to pay an arbitration award.