Congress must work to regulate this platform economy and care for the national industry and Argentine employment," Miguel Ángel Pichetto posted on social media X. Marcos Galperin responded in kind, dismissing the concern: "I am not worried. They are already impacting your business and the loss of jobs for those who work in shipping." The clash erupted after the president of Mercado Libre Argentina, Juan Martín de la Serna, last week demanded "a good regulatory framework, that is equal for all who compete," referring to e-commerce platforms. In his speech at the Abeceb Forum, the executive highlighted that "regulations are very important, both in finance and in trade." "We are going to compete with them in the same way that we have competed with them, so far very successfully, in many other countries on the continent." Then, Pichetto retorted: "You better start worrying, Marcos Galperín, because the Chinese platforms are going to run you over." However, De la Serna clarified: "What seems important to us is to differentiate ourselves: as a rule, these Asian companies sell low-quality products." A spicy clash broke out on social media X between the head of the Federal Encuentro bloc in Deputies, Miguel Ángel Pichetto, and the owner of Mercado Libre, Marcos Galperín, after the Argentine company called for regulations on Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Shein and Temu. The legislator initially posted on his account: "I was the first to talk about the need to heavily tax the products of the Chinese platforms Shein and Temu." De la Serna warned that the growing use of platforms from the Asian giant for purchasing low-cost products poses "a risk of undermining the local productive fabric and jeopardizing jobs in the region." The executive warned: "When you open the market indiscriminately and an Asian company sends you products by ship, you are actually giving jobs to Chinese companies, not Argentine ones." Pichetto added that "now I see that many people are concerned, including Mr. Galperín from Mercado Libre."
