BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — President Javier Milei of Argentina kicked off a go to Wednesday to the USA, the place he’ll meet with tech billionaire Elon Musk, as his authorities seeks an infusion of money to overtake Argentina’s embattled economic system.
The populist president began his four-day journey in Miami, house to one of many largest populations of Argentines within the U.S., the place he acquired an honor from the Jewish neighborhood Wednesday at an Orthodox synagogue. Milei will meet with Musk on Friday in Texas, his spokesperson mentioned, the place he will even tour a manufacturing unit for Tesla, Musk’s electrical automotive firm.
Milei’s third journey to the U.S. in merely 4 months as president comes as he reshapes Argentine overseas coverage consistent with 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. assist 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 making an attempt to “cease us from talking.”
“We’re not going to stay silent within the face of slander, insult or defamation,” he wrote.
Milei’s plan to drastically lower 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 most important Buenos Aires artery.
Not solely is the U.S. the most important investor in Argentina, it additionally has probably 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 worth controls” as components hampering traders in Argentina. Milei has vowed to roll again these interventionist insurance policies with market-oriented adjustments 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 fashion and distaste for presidency overreach — have expressed mutual admiration. Forward of his inauguration final December, Milei praised Musk as an “icon of freedom on the planet.” Musk gushed over Milei’s speech lambasting socialism on the World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland, commenting “So sizzling” 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 metallic, an indispensable ingredient in electrical automotive batteries, “the brand new oil.”
Milei’s free-market insurance policies have raised hopes within the U.S. that the metallic 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.