Milei, the president of cash-strapped Argentina, starts another US tour and plans to meet Elon Musk
Buenos Aires, Argentina — Argentina’s President Javier Milei kicked off a visit to the United States on Wednesday, where he will meet tech billionaire Elon Musk, as his government looks for an infusion of cash to reorganize Argentina’s embattled economy.
The populist president began his four-day trip in Miami, home to one of the largest Argentine populations in the US, where he received an honor from the Jewish community at an Orthodox synagogue on Wednesday. Milei will meet Musk in Texas on Friday, his spokesman said, where he will also tour a factory of Tesla, Musk’s electric car company.
Milei’s third trip to the US in just four months as president comes as he reshapes Argentina’s foreign policy in line with Washington. Standing next to Gen. Laura Richardson, head of the U.S. Southern Command, at the southern tip of South America last week, Milei pledged to strengthen the nations’ “strategic alliance” — underscoring how he sees U.S. support as essential for the economic reorganization on which he has staked his presidency.
“We took advantage of this by presenting a new foreign doctrine for Argentina,” Milei wrote on social media platform X on Wednesday about his meeting with Richardson. In the same post, apparently aimed at Musk – a self-declared free speech absolutist – Milei said he was promoting “true freedom of speech” and denounced journalists who criticized his government for trying to “stop us from speaking.” .
“We will not remain silent when faced with slander, insult or defamation,” he wrote.
Milei’s plan to drastically cut government spending has caused economic pain and met resistance in a country where annual inflation tops 276%. On Wednesday, police forcibly dispersed anti-government protesters blocking a main Buenos Aires artery.
Not only is the US the largest investor in Argentina, it also has the most influence over the International Monetary Fund, to which Argentina owes $42 billion. The IMF has endorsed Milei’s shock therapy for Argentina and agreed to pay out $4.7 billion from a bailout package the country secured six years ago.
Last year’s State Department investment climate statement cited “capital controls, trade restrictions and price controls” as factors hindering investors in Argentina. Milei has vowed to reverse those interventionist policies with market-oriented changes favored by business leaders such as Musk, one of the richest men in the world who heads rocket company SpaceX, social media platform X and Tesla.
Milei and Musk — who both share a brash, personality-driven style and an aversion to government overreach — have expressed mutual admiration. Before his inauguration last December, Milei praised Musk as an “icon of freedom in the world.” Musk cheered Milei’s speech criticizing socialism at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, commenting “So hot” with a meme of a couple having sex while watching Milei talk.
With its vast lithium reserves, Argentina has much to offer Musk, a dominant player in the electric car industry who has dubbed the metal, a vital ingredient in electric car batteries, “the new oil.”
Milei’s free-market policies have raised hopes in the U.S. that the metal and other much-needed raw materials can be mined closer to the U.S., breaking China’s dominance in the battery supply chain. The Biden administration said earlier this year it was exploring investment opportunities in Argentine lithium.