Argentine President Javier Milei met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday afternoon, receiving Trump’s endorsement for the upcoming October 26 legislative midterm elections.
Milei met with Trump for lunch alongside their respective teams at a time when the United States is finalizing details for a $20 billion currency swap with Argentina’s central bank. The process is meant to bolster the South American nation’s ongoing economic recovery under Milei, whose policies aim to overturn decades of socialist mismanagement that pushed the nation to the brink of complete economic ruin.
“We love them. We will be there for them. They have a great leader, a very great leader. Thank you,” President Trump told reporters after receiving Milei.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent stressed at the start of the meeting that Milei is fighting 100 years of bad economic history and policy with his reforms – and pointed out that former President Barack Obama “wasted” a major opportunity to bring the U.S. and the region closer at a time when Latin American nations elected center-right governments.
“We are not going to ignore our allies; we’re using our economic strength to create peace,” Bessent emphasized.
Milei thanked Trump and his leadership for his successful efforts in the release of the last 20 remaining hostages taken by Hamas in the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. He also congratulated Trump for understanding the threat that the so-called “socialism of the 21st century” poses to Latin America and the world, with special recognition for Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The Argentine president further thanked Sec. Bessent for the swap deal, which would allow Argentina solve its liquidity issues in the face of local critics who refuse to embrace “the ideas of freedom” and instead embrace failed ideas and “roads that lead to socialism.”
“First of all, thank you very much for welcoming me, thank you very much for what you are doing for the free world, and thank you very much to Secretary Bessent for the enormous task he has carried out, which allows us to have a path to follow with peace of mind and do what good Argentines need to do. I believe this will be a good example to show the world that the ideas of freedom work and generate prosperity,” Milei said.
Milei gifted Trump a plaque bearing a letter signed by the Argentine president nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. The Argentine presidency revealed on social media that Milei also gave Trump a letter written by the families of the last three Argentine hostages taken by Hamas thanking President Trump for his efforts to bring peace to the Middle East.
President Trump said that it was an honor to host Milei at the White House and gave him his full endorsement in the upcoming midterm elections. Trump stressed that he wants “to see Argentina succeed, and I believe Milei’s leadership can achieve that. He is heading in the right direction.”
Argentina will hold a national legislative midterm election on October 26 to renew roughly half of the national congress’s deputy seats and 24 of the Senate’s 72 seats. Presently, the ruling Liberty Advances party does not have a majority in either of the two chambers. Milei is up for reelection in 2027.
“The [midterm] election is coming up very soon, and it’s a very big election, watched by the world because he’s done an incredible job, but with that comes some pain, and they have some pain and now they’re coming out of it. I think victory is very important, your poll numbers I heard are pretty good, but I think they will be better after this,” President Trump said.
“And you know our approvals are somewhat subject to who wins an election, because if a socialist, or in the case of New York, a communist wins, you feel a lot different making an investment,” he added.
President Trump emphasized that the United States would not be generous with Argentina in the event that a far-left person, “a philosophy that got Argentina into this problem in the first place,” wins against Milei: “If he [Milei] loses, we won’t be generous with Argentina.”
Upon taking office, Milei ordered a dramatic “realignment” of Argentina’s foreign policy with the United States and Israel as its main allies, overturning nearly two decades’ worth of socialist governments that pushed the South American nation towards Iran, China, Russia, and the region’s three authoritarian regimes: Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
Sec. Marco Rubio highlighted that Argentina stands with the eight or nine countries in Latin America that have aligned themselves with the United States on issue after issue at international community events all over the world. Sec. Rubio also pointed out that the October presidential runoff election in Bolivia is between two candidates that want a strong relationship with the United States.
President Milei was reportedly accompanied by his sister, the Secretary General of the Presidency Karina Milei, Economy Minister Luis Caputo, Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, Head of the Argentine Central Bank Santiago Bausilli, Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein, and Argentine Ambassador to the United States Alec Oxenford.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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