BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — President Javier Milei of Argentina kicked off a go to Wednesday to the US, the place he’ll meet with tech billionaire Elon Musk, as his authorities seeks an infusion of money to overtake Argentina’s embattled financial system.
The populist president began his four-day journey in Miami, residence to one of many largest populations of Argentines within the U.S., the place he obtained an honor from the Jewish group Wednesday at an Orthodox synagogue. Milei will meet with Musk on Friday in Texas, his spokesperson mentioned, the place he can even tour a manufacturing facility for Tesla, Musk’s electrical automobile firm.
Milei’s third journey to the U.S. in merely 4 months as president comes as he reshapes Argentine overseas coverage according to Washington. Standing beside Gen. Laura Richardson, head of the U.S. Southern Command, on the southernmost tip of South America final week, Milei vowed to spice up the nations’ “strategic alliance” — underscoring how he sees U.S. help as very important to the financial overhaul on which he has staked his presidency.
“We took benefit to current a brand new overseas doctrine for Argentina,” Milei wrote Wednesday on social media platform X of his assembly with Richardson. In the identical put up, apparently directed at Musk — a self-declared free speech absolutist — Milei mentioned he promoted “true freedom of expression” and slammed journalists crucial of his administration as attempting to “cease us from talking.”
“We aren’t going to stay silent within the face of slander, insult or defamation,” he wrote.
Milei’s plan to drastically minimize public spending has inflicted financial ache and encountered resistance in a nation the place annual inflation tops 276%. On Wednesday, police forcibly dispersed anti-government protestors blocking a fundamental Buenos Aires artery.
Not solely is the U.S. the most important investor in Argentina, it additionally has essentially the most affect over the Worldwide Financial Fund, to which Argentina owes $42 billion. The IMF has endorsed Milei’s shock remedy for Argentina, agreeing to disburse $4.7 billion from a bailout bundle the nation took out six years in the past.
The State Division’s funding local weather assertion final 12 months famous “capital controls, commerce restrictions, and value controls” as components hampering traders in Argentina. Milei has vowed to roll again these interventionist insurance policies with market-oriented modifications favored by enterprise leaders, like Musk, one of many world’s richest males who leads rocket firm SpaceX, social media platform X and Tesla.
Milei and Musk — who each share a brash personality-driven model and distaste for presidency overreach — have expressed mutual admiration. Forward of his inauguration final December, Milei praised Musk as an “icon of freedom on this planet.” Musk gushed over Milei’s speech lambasting socialism on the World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland, commenting “So scorching” with a meme of a pair having intercourse whereas watching Milei communicate.
With its huge lithium reserves, Argentina has a lot to supply Musk, a dominant participant within the electrical auto business who has dubbed the steel, an indispensable ingredient in electrical automobile batteries, “the brand new oil.”
Milei’s free-market insurance policies have raised hopes within the U.S. that the steel and different badly wanted uncooked supplies may be extracted nearer to the U.S., breaking China’s dominance of the battery provide chain. The Biden administration mentioned it was exploring funding alternatives in Argentine lithium earlier this 12 months.