The meeting held by the president Javier Milei with the United States Treasury Secretary, Scott Besentnot only left the government a gesture of political support by the administration of Donald Trump but also a favorable sign for negotiation with which minimize the impact of tariffs and the commercial war launched by the American president.
Besent is a key official in the framework of the aggressive foreign commercial policy that the Republican launched when elevated 145% Tariffs for China -Principal pointed out by this strategy- and 10% for the rest of the countriesamong which is Argentina. Days ago Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture questioned the export of meat from this country to North America.
The final objective declared of Milei is to sign a free trade agreement with the United States and, while trying to disarm the obstacles imposed by belonging to Mercosur, seeks as a previous step to negotiate exceptions to that tariff policy, in the impasse of 90 days that Trump arranged after the first earthquake that generated in the markets.
The same intends the European Union and almost all nations that are affected and That is why Besent’s visit was so important for the Milei government: he is the official with whom everyone wants to sit down to dialogue these days and made a lightning visit exclusively to Argentina to, as he said, “the first formal conversations on reciprocal trade between the two countries.”
The visit itself was already celebrated by Milei and the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputoto occur on the first day of the operations after the lifting of the stocks to the official dollar, but also gave the chance to the president and announce the possibility of reaching a beneficial commercial agreement with the United Statesalthough still There are conditions ahead of agreeing. The Republican administration has the eye on the relationship with China.
The wink that Javier Milei got from the US in full commercial war of Donald Trump
After the meeting that Besent shared at Casa Rosada with Milei, Caputo, his vice minister José Luis Daza; the president of the Central Bank, Santiago Bausili, and the Secretary of Finance, Pablo Quirnothe United States Embassy in the country issued a statement in which it stressed that the Treasury Secretary praised the Government “for advance quickly in negotiation with the United States of a package of reciprocal commercial measures. “
It was a clear allusion to the negotiations that Trump opened with all countries after the initial blow of the tariff rise, with wink included. Shortly after, Besent confirmed during a joint message with Milei – which was recorded – that with his visit “began the first formal conversations about reciprocal trade between the two countries.”
Beyond that he unveiled part of the real reason for his unusual visit to the country, Besent read a statement full of Definitions traced on the official government discourse: He spoke of the “inheritance,” said that “the Argentine economy was balanced on the verge of a precipice” and highlighted Milei’s “courage” against “establishment”, while drawing its management a parallel and Trump’s.
“In many ways, Milei and the Maga Movement share the same course,” said the Secretary of the Treasury while highlighting the support of the United States “to President Milei and the vision of his government” and the “will to collaborate with the government of President Trump with Argentina.”
The goal of Javier Milei: Will Zero Tariff achieve for Argentina?
Besent’s public message could not have been more to taste from the government. “We are your partners This historical occasion, “said the US official. Milei took advantage The time to celebrate that “today Argentina is living its own ‘Liberation Day’,” as Trump called the day he announced the rise of tariffs for everyone. The Argentine obviously referred to the lifting of the stocks to the dollar “after 15 years of capital control.”
Then The president reiterated that Argentina “intends to be a firm ally of the United States in the region” and anticipated: “At the commercial level, we understand the proposal of reciprocal tariffs prepared by President Trump and we are ready to sign a commercial agreement on that line.”
The Government It began to be seen in a privileged situation within the commercial war that launched the United States, or at least that tried to convey after Besset’s visit. However, the objective of having a preferential treatment in the new context is not yet insured despite the strong political support that Trump sent to Milei.
This was seen by his own Besset after the joint messageto be consulted during an interview about the possibility that some country has Zero tariff: “We’ll see. I do not know what will happen to the negotiations, because we have a lot of obstacles to overcome: tariff and non -tariff commercial barriers, “said the Treasury Secretary.
A complex negotiation, with China in the middle: the other US message to Javier Milei
In this way, the agreement looking for Milei is only in conversations. Trump aims to renegotiate conditions with each country and Argentina is in a particular situation for southern China, which recently renewed with the central bank the section of US $ 5,000 million corresponding to the current currency swap, which is almost US $ 18,000 million in total.
This agreement is of the utmost importance for the central reserves and in turn, the Trump administration has a lot of interest in reducing the influence of the Asian giant in Latin America. He showed it with the pressure on the Panama Canal. Therefore, Argentina’s position to negotiate for the least possible impact of the commercial war on its exports is peculiar.
Besent acknowledged that this credit from Argentina with China will extend another year and pointed out that “as this administration (Milei’s) maintains its inflexible economic policy, they should eventually have enough currency tickets to pay it.”Both the treasure and the Casa Rosada say that the cancellation of the SWAP is not an request from the United States government.
In any case, Trump’s adsinsitration is in a position to put conditions. Besent also highlighted in his official message the support provided by the United States for Caputo to close the new agreement with the IMF that assured US $20,000 million with a first and quick disbursement. At the moment, polytical support is an important gesture for libertarian management.
For his part, Milei deepened his alignment with a geopolitical cutting: “The roots of the seeds planted in this new relationship must be strong enough to expand throughout the region (…) Argentina is determined to be the lighthouse of light that South America needs“He said.
Thus, the meeting of Javier Milei with the United States Treasury Secretary He opened the door to a negotiation that the government expects to close quickly and with a positive balance for the country, but that strictly begins and depends on the conditions imposed Donald Trump in its commercial war, which points mainly against China.
