U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed the executive order mandating reciprocal tariffs for United States trading partners on Wednesday. Argentina ducked the worst of it, as it is one of eleven countries that got slapped with the minimum 10% tariff. 

“I will sign a historic executive order instituting reciprocal tariffs on countries throughout the world. Reciprocal, that means they do it to us and we do it to them,” Trump said in a speech delivered from the White House. He added that Wednesday was “one of the most important days in the history of the United States.”

The measure consists of a baseline 10% tariff for all foreign products that enter the U.S. and higher fees for products originating from close to 60 countries. According to Herald sister publication Ámbito, the Argentine government considers the fact that the country is among those slapped with the minimum a “tremendous accomplishment.”

“It’s a great feat; they’ve just treated us like we were a country that has a free trade agreement with them,” a government source told Ámbito journalist Liliana Franco. “We’ve been treated better than Israel,” the source added, pointing to the fact that the Middle Eastern country was slapped with 17%. 

Argentine President Javier Milei traveled on Thursday to the United States together with Economy Minister Luis Caputo. The government is hopeful that Milei will be able to meet with Trump while in the country. According to Franco, the goal is to discuss the commercial relationship between the two countries and the new IMF assistance program for Argentina. 

Government officials have also said that negotiations geared at exploring new bilateral trade agreements are “very advanced.” The topic was discussed in a meeting Argentine Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein had last Tuesday in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

With information from Ámbito