BUENOS AIRES — An Argentine Senate vote rejecting divisive export taxes Thursday may boost grain supply and put more food on the world’s tables — if President Cristina Fernandez accepts the surprise veto by lawmakers from her own party.
Fernandez increased taxes by decree in March and in June submitted the package to Congress, where her coalition holds a majority, in a largely symbolic gesture. But Argentina’s political system was stunned Thursday as the vice president cast a decisive tie-breaking vote against what she has called an attempt to spread Argentina’s farm wealth among its 10 million poor.
The taxes have not yet been repealed, and while Fernandez had promised to respect the Senate’s decision, her government did not immediately respond to the vote on Thursday.
Argentina, one of the world’s top four exporters of soybeans, corn, wheat and beef, should have ridden recent global food prices to record prosperity. Instead, protests over the export tax increase disrupted the flow of farm goods as farmers went on strike, stockpiling commodities as grocery shelves emptied.
Should the taxes be repealed, exports will once again be competitive and stream out of Argentina and onto world markets, where supplies have been tight.
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