Argentine President-elect Javier Milei poses with his entourage after leaving his meeting with White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. KEVIN LAMARQUE (Portal)
Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei outlined his economic program to United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in a roughly hour-long meeting in the Eisenhower Executive Building of the White House on Tuesday. According to the sitting president, he also presented to senior US officials “Argentina’s new framework” for “nations that respect freedom.” President Joe Biden’s Latin America adviser Juan González and Undersecretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols also attended the meeting.
In a message on social networks, accompanied by a photo with his team of advisors who attended the meeting, the Ultra Milei described the event as “an excellent meeting”. “We spoke at this moment about the economic and social situation in Argentina,” he told the media in brief statements after leaving the presidential residence in Washington and shortly before boarding his flight back to Buenos Aires.
The would-be president was accompanied by his sister and right-hand woman Karina Milei; future chief of staff Nicolás Posse; businessman Gerardo Werthein, a personal friend of Bill Clinton and rumored to be the next Argentine ambassador to Washington; the former Macrista finance minister and possible economy minister in the new cabinet, Luis Caputo, and the communications strategist Santiago Caputo. The US Ambassador to Buenos Aires, Mark Stanley, was also present.
Milei “expressed during the meeting his view of the international geopolitical agenda in line with the West and his defense of the values of freedom,” a statement from the office of the president-elect said. For his part, Sullivan expressed “the willingness of the United States to cooperate in the transition of the new Argentine government, given the challenging political, economic and social situation in which the country finds itself,” according to the Argentine version of the meeting.
It was originally planned that the winner of the Argentine elections, after defeating the Peronist Sergio Massa ten days ago, would also have met with representatives of the International Monetary Fund during his visit to Washington, but in the end only his economic advisers were present at this meeting. Milei had already held a meeting with IMF Director Kristalina Georgieva via video conference last Friday. Argentina received a large loan of $44 billion from this organization in 2018, but was unable to repay it on time even after renegotiating the terms.
Before the meeting, the White House had already expressed interest in hearing from the leader of La Libertad Avanza what his economic and political government program would be. “Argentina is a dynamic partner on this continent on many issues. “We look forward to hearing the president-elect’s ideas and seeing where he wants to go on policy issues and making sure we keep the lines of communication open,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday Meeting confirmed.
While in New York, Milei had lunch with Democratic Senator Chris Dodd and former US President Bill Clinton. His first appearance in the Big Apple was a visit to the grave of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, better known as “the Lubavitcher Rebbe.” It is a holy place for Judaism, which Milei had previously visited to ask for his blessing to be elected president of Argentina.
The visit to Washington and New York is the first by the Argentine president-elect since his election victory and provides a clear indication of the new administration’s foreign policy priorities. Milei has insisted throughout his campaign that his key allies will be the United States and Israel. He has also promised to distance himself from China, an important trading partner of his country with which Alberto Fernández’s government has excellent relations. Among other things, he rejected the possibility of the Southern Cone country joining the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), which his predecessor had certainly supported.
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