Argentine President Javier Milei may currently be a lynchpin in US President Donald Trump’s geoeconomic vision for Latin America; but he could soon become its weak link. With elections coming next year, he has achieved an economic recovery and relative price stability by driving millions of his people into destitution.
BUENOS AIRES—Nearly three years after Javier Milei became Argentina’s president, the chainsaw-wielding free-marketeer has established himself as the darling of the far right. Brazil’s right-wing presidential candidate, Flávio Bolsonaro, is promising an economic policy that would follow Milei’s lead, and US President Donald Trump calls him his “favorite president.” Last year, Trump extended Argentina an unprecedented $20 billion currency swap line to halt its currency’s free fall on the eve of legislative elections, and the gambit worked. Milei’s party won a surprising victory.