What Milei hopes to ‘gain’ with the new Trump administration

Javier Milei’s admiration for the new president of the United States, Donald Trump, could bear fruit for Argentina. This is what the Milei government expects. In the coming days, a mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to arrive in the country for talks with local authorities. The visit could be a way to release a new loan for Argentina.

During the government of former president Macri, the IMF lent a historic sum to the organization’s trajectory. The current government’s argument is that with the new aid it would be possible to reinforce the Central Bank’s reserves and, within a period yet to be defined, end the exchange control in force in the country for some time.

Milei has been praised at the Fund, by Trump and his main allies, such as Elon Musk, from X and member of the new United States government. Praise for the strong fiscal adjustment, which, according to economists, eliminated the deficit (spending more than is possible) and reduced inflation. Opinion polls, however, indicate that today Argentines’ biggest concern is about losing their jobs. Before, it was with the country’s high inflation.

This summer, with the appreciation of the peso, the national currency, many Argentines went back to vacationing in Brazil – it became cheap for them and Argentina became expensive for Brazilians.

Milei also hopes that the privileged relationship with the Trump administration will transform him into a reference for the White House in Latin America and, especially, in South America. Milei defends that his country signs a free trade agreement with the United States. As it is part of Mercosur, its intention requires the approval of the National Congress. This semester, the bloc’s presidency (which is biannual and rotating) is with Argentina. But behind the scenes at Itamaraty today they think that this agreement between our neighbor and the USA “is difficult”. But the bilateral political relationship is so frayed that a Brazilian diplomat even said: “Argentina knows its business.”