By Eduard Ribas i Admetlla
Washington, (EFE). – United States President Donald Trump met with his Argentine counterpart, Javier Milei, on Tuesday during a lunch at the White House, in which he expressed his full support, but conditioned the US financial aid to Argentina on the results of the official party in the upcoming legislative elections.
The first meeting at the White House between them served to strengthen their alliance following the 20 billion-dollar swap agreement announced last week to shore up the Argentine economy.
Sitting in the Cabinet Room alongside delegations from both countries, Trump stressed that the victory of Milei’s party, Freedom Forward, in the midterm elections on Oct 26 is “very important.”
However, the US president pointed out that if the official party loses, “we will not be generous.”
Hence, the Argentine president’s economic reform program could suffer a setback if the opposition wins majorities in Congress and the Senate.
Uncertainty in the stock market
Trump’s words were quickly felt on the Argentine stock market: the S&P Merval index, which groups the main companies on the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, closed with a 2.09% drop.
Although the Merval had started the day on a positive note, the trend changed abruptly after Trump’s statements.
Trump said the US is “helping a great philosophy take over a great country” and expressed his hope that other Latin American governments will follow the same path.
The US president also expressed openness to a trade agreement with Argentina, to which he applied 10% tariffs, as he did with most of the nations in the region.
Milei applauds Trump’s “leadership” in the Middle East
Milei applauded Trump’s “leadership” in the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip and presented him with a thank-you letter written by the families of the freed Argentine hostages.
Milei was accompanied by the Presidency’s Secretary General, his sister Karina Milei; the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo; the president of the Central Bank, Santiago Bausili; the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich; and the Argentine ambassador to the United States, Alec Oxenford.
Milei’s entourage had been seeking to meet Trump in the Oval Office for months,but ultimately, the meeting was reduced to a working lunch due to the delay in the US president’s return to Washington after his trip to the Middle East to sign the peace plan.
Milei, who is scheduled to return to Buenos Aires on Tuesday night, later participated in another event at the White House, during which Trump presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Charlie Kirk, murdered on Sep 20.
Trump and Milei have met on several occasions, most recently in September during the UN General Assembly, when the US president announced his support for Milei’s candidacy for re-election in 2027. EFE
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