On the international stage, the Argentine president expressed his full support for Donald Trump for the use of U.S. armed forces to destroy vessels engaged in drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the Pacific. He also said he is "totally in agreement" with the pressure Trump is exerting on the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, whom he described as a "narco-dictator."
The future of Argentina
Milei also highlighted that the rebound in Argentine assets after his party, La Libertad Avanza, won the midterm elections "makes us optimistic" about a possible return of the country to international capital markets next year.
"I believe that in 2026 Argentina will be in the market. And the swap line [with the United States] will cover Argentina's liquidity position if it can't refinance its debts. That is, Argentina will not default. Our commitment to debt repayment is unwavering," he told the Financial Times.
In an interview with the Financial Times, the Argentine president, Javier Milei, defended his economic course and announced that he will deepen market reforms, while also strengthening his alliance with the U.S. president, Donald Trump.
After achieving a broader-than-expected electoral victory over Peronism, Milei expressed his intention to accelerate the country's economic transformation. "We have to make sure we can eliminate the socialist ideas that have ruined this country for a hundred years," the president told the British outlet.
He also explained that he plans to keep the peso within a system of gradually widening floating bands against the U.S. dollar, at least until the 2027 elections, with the goal of reducing the historic volatility of the national economy. He also rejected criticism attributing the overvaluation of the currency at the beginning of the year to this policy and emphasized: "We have a program and we're going to keep following it."
Javier Milei junto al ministro caputo.
Speculative attacks and U.S. intervention
Referring to the intervention of the U.S. Treasury when a speculative attack threatened the government's economic plan, Milei commented: "The U.S. Treasury made timely interventions when it saw a business opportunity," referring to Bessent's assessment that the peso was "undervalued" in October.
Since Javier Milei's electoral victory, pressure on the exchange rate has eased and the Argentine peso has strengthened within its expected range. The president assured that he has no plans to modify the exchange band scheme, whose upper and lower limits widen by 1% each month, and announced that "at that pace, they will be much wider in two years." He also added: "The bands are designed to open up over time, and the time will come when they will be irrelevant."
Milei explained that the "increase in money demand" expected in the coming months, as electoral uncertainty decreases and the economy recovers, will facilitate the accumulation of Central Bank reserves. He also argued that those calling for the elimination of the band system have been influenced by "local economists and consulting firms, who have systematically been wrong about this."
Javier Milei junto a Luis Caputo.
The president recounted that during a visit to Buenos Aires in April, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, agreed with the government that, after moving from a fixed exchange rate to a floating one within bands, speculative attacks could arise before the midterm elections and market support would be necessary.
Bessent recently noted that support for Argentina is part of a new "economic Monroe Doctrine," through which the United States seeks to reaffirm its leadership in Latin America and contain China's influence. Milei welcomed this change of course: "The United States has openly decided to be the leader of the region and I strongly welcome it. Previously, the United States was concerned with helping those who were not allies, feeding its own enemies. Today they've made a Copernican shift, which is fabulous. That is: support for allies and no support for non-allies. I think it's brilliant."
El presidente junto a la militancia.
"We're setting all engines of growth in motion," Milei assured, stating that maintaining fiscal balance, reducing the tax burden, and advancing deregulation will allow the economy to move from the 4% projected growth for this year to "between seven and ten percent annually starting next year."
The tax reform he is promoting seeks to eliminate about twenty taxes and return about 500 billion dollars to Argentines' pockets by 2031, the year in which a possible second term would end. Likewise, labor flexibility aims to incorporate into the formal sector part of the 42% of workers who currently work in the informal economy.
In his office at the Casa Rosada, with a handcrafted bronze chainsaw on the table, Milei reiterated his commitment to reduce the size of the State, which represented 42% of GDP when he took office. "We aim to bring public spending to 25 percent of GDP. We've already cut eleven percentage points, we have six left to cut," he stated.
The new world order
Meanwhile, Milei argued that Latin America is experiencing a "liberal renaissance" and expressed his hope that upcoming elections in the region will consolidate conservative-oriented governments: "We hope the blue wave continues. We've already had enough reds."
From the Casa Rosada, the president stated that he is convinced that "the failure of woke ideology has been demonstrated." According to him, the world is moving toward a new order made up of three major blocs: one led by the United States, another by Russia, and a third headed by China.
"In this world order, the United States understands that its bloc is in the Americas, and without a doubt, we are its greatest strategic ally," Milei concluded in statements to the Financial Times.
