Giving Up China Is Hard, Even for Argentina's Anarcho-Capitalist

[Judi Lynn]

President Javier Milei is taking a softer tone than he did as a candidate, saying he won’t touch existing trade agreements with Beijing.

By Jonathan Gilbert and Manuela Tobias
April 4, 2024 at 6:08 PM CDT

Developing nations around the world are grappling with a choice of allegiance to the US or China on matters of trade, financing and security. Nowhere is that tougher than in Argentina.

The South American country’s 276% inflation, history of sovereign bond defaults and six recessions over the last decade have made it more financially dependent on Beijing than any of its neighbors in Latin America, where the US has lost ground to China.

Eight months ago, Javier Milei vowed he would curb ties with China if he became Argentina’s leader. “Would you trade with an assassin?” he asked. It was a fitting comment for an outspoken admirer of the US, Milton Friedman and Donald Trump, a self-described anarcho-capitalist who rejects socialism and state intervention.

Milei: Trade With China Isn’t 'Aligning With Communists'
Now, President Milei is taking a far more pragmatic tone, saying trade relations between China and Argentina haven’t changed “one bit,” and that he had no intentions of touching an $18 billion currency swap.

“We have always said that we are libertarians,” he said in an exclusive interview with Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait. “If people want to do business with China, they can.”

More:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-04-04/milei-softens-on-china-as-clean-break-threatens-argentina-economy