International Business

South American Nations to Discuss Tariffs: The presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay will meet in Colonia, Uruguay, on Jan. 17 to discuss a common external tariff for Mercosur, their planned common market, Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle said. Lacalle said he hopes the meeting will narrow differences between Argentina and Brazil on how an external tariff should work and on whether it should apply to all third countries and all goods from the start. The first major goal of Mercosur is to scrap trade tariffs among the four partners by Jan. 1, 1995. The Brazilians oppose Argentina’s import duties structure, which is meant to deter cheap imports and encourage the acquisition of capital goods. “Perhaps a common tariff will not apply to everyone; there may be exceptions as we phase the law in,” Lacalle said.