Javier Milei

Rule Changes

In office, pursuing fiscal surplus

In December 2024, Argentina cut value-added tax on restaurant meals after a year in which prices roughly doubled and the sector shed more than 10,000 jobs. Hotels and restaurants then grew 7.4 percent in 2025—the fastest of any major sector—per national statistics agency INDEC.

Updated Jul 9

Force in Play

Attended summit; close Trump ally

The United States has not built a new military coalition in the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War. On March 7, President Trump gathered leaders from 12 Latin American nations in Miami to launch the 'Shield of the Americas,' a military-intelligence framework against drug cartels, and the Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition—a 17-country pledge for lethal action against transnational criminal organizations.

Updated May 30

Rule Changes

In office since December 2023

Argentina has protected its domestic industries with tariffs and import controls since the 1940s. On February 6, 2026, Buenos Aires signed its first bilateral trade agreement with the United States—eliminating barriers on over 200 categories of American goods and securing tariff relief on 1,675 Argentine products in return.

Updated May 27

Rule Changes

Driving pro-mining economic reforms

China controls roughly two-thirds of global rare earth mining and about 90 percent of processing, a concentration the United States now treats as a national security threat. On February 4, 2026, Secretary of State Marco Rubio convened ministers from 54 countries in Washington to launch a preferential critical-minerals trade bloc with price floors, billions in financing, and FORGE, a new coordinating body.

Updated May 27

Rule Changes

Delivered third consecutive Davos speech; defended China trade ties

This year's World Economic Forum (the first in 55 years without founder Klaus Schwab) became an emergency diplomatic summit when Trump's tariff threats over Greenland drew record attendance from 60+ heads of state. By week's end, a NATO 'framework deal' had defused the immediate crisis, and Canadian PM Mark Carney declared to applause from European and middle-power leaders that the U.S.-led rules-based order is over.

Updated May 22

Rule Changes

Signed agreement, plans to submit to Congress for ratification

Negotiations between the EU and Mercosur began in 1999. Twenty-six years later, on January 17, 2026, representatives signed a comprehensive free trade agreement in Asunción, Paraguay—the same city where Mercosur itself was founded in 1991. The deal eliminates tariffs on more than 90% of bilateral trade and creates the world's largest free trade zone, covering over 700 million consumers and roughly a quarter of global GDP.

Updated May 21

Force in Play

In office since December 2023

Brazil protected Argentina's embassy in Caracas for 14 months after Nicolás Maduro expelled Argentine diplomats in July 2024. That arrangement ended January 16, 2026, when Italy assumed custodianship. The shift was triggered by Brazil's opposition to the U.S. military operation that captured Maduro two weeks earlier, and accelerated by Argentine President Milei's sustained social media attacks on Brazilian President Lula.

Updated May 21