Argentina Decreto 513/2025 — Import tariffs on 27 capital-goods lines cut to 12.6%, replacing three MERCOSUR-exception annexes

Mechanism

Decreto 513/2025 uses the Executive's delegated tariff authority under the Código Aduanero to replace three annexes of Decreto 557/2023, the instrument that carries Argentina's national exceptions to the MERCOSUR Common External Tariff (AEC):

• Annex I — National List of Exceptions to the AEC (up to 100 tariff codes

Argentina is permitted to set outside the MERCOSUR-common rate).

• Annex II — Capital Goods (BK) list with differentiated extrazone import rates.
• Annex III — Temporary Tariff Increase List.

The operative change is a cut on 27 capital-goods NCM lines — previously taxed at rates ranging 20-35% — down to a uniform 12.6% extrazone rate. The stated aim, per the government's framing, is to lower the cost of machinery and tooling acquisition for Argentine manufacturers and improve competitiveness, continuing the Milei administration's broader deregulation program (DNU 70/2023).

Severity basis

Severity 3 (quant). The quant anchor is the tariff-rate cut itself — a 7.4-22.4 percentage-point reduction (from a 20-35% range to 12.6%) on 27 capital-goods lines. This is narrower in scope than the administration's sector-wide export-duty cuts (mining DEX to 0%, grain retenciones cuts), both of which carry severity 4 — here the measure targets a specific, bounded list of machinery/tooling import codes rather than an entire export complex, and it lowers input costs for domestic industry rather than directly reshaping an export flow.

Downstream implications

• Capital-goods import costs: manufacturers and importers of the 27

covered machinery/tooling lines see landed-cost compression, which should flow through to industrial-equipment demand from OEMs and distributors serving the Argentine market.

• Consistent with the deregulation trajectory: sits alongside DNU 70/2023,

RIGI, and the FX liberalization (DNU 269/2025) as part of a continuing unilateral trade-opening program rather than a one-off measure.

• MERCOSUR exception-list precedent: modifying the AEC exception annexes

by decree (rather than through MERCOSUR consensus) is the same delegated- authority mechanism used in prior Argentine tariff actions; worth watching whether other MERCOSUR members raise consultation objections.

Open questions

• Full NCM-line-level annex text (IF/APN reference number) was not directly

retrieved — the specific 27 tariff codes and their pre/post rates should be confirmed against the published annex before any downstream sector mapping.

• Whether this decree faces the same delegated-faculties review by the

Comisión Bicameral Permanente as Decreto 563/2025.

• Duration/sunset: no expiry date identified in available sources — treat as

indefinite pending confirmation.