Argentina’s Milei heads to the US again, balancing Trump ties with growing China trade

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s President Javier Milei set off Wednesday for his 14th trip to the United States to take part in the inaugural session of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace initiative. He is also expected to attend Trump’s regional summit in Miami on March 7 with Latin American leaders aligned with the White House’s political agenda.

The visits come as Trump seeks to bolster alliances to counter Chinese influence in Latin America, and as Milei — whose country counts China as its top trading partner — walks a careful diplomatic line, reshaping Argentine foreign policy to mirror Washington’s while pursuing closer economic ties with Beijing.

Milei may have referred to Beijing’s Communist government as an “assassin” on the campaign trail, but two years into his presidency, experts say it’s increasingly clear he can’t walk away from China.

“Argentina relies on China’s insatiable demand for South America’s energy, food and minerals, and the United States will never replace that market,” said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin American program at the Wilson Center.

China was Argentina’s biggest trading partner last December, the most recent month with available data, overtaking neighboring Brazil three months earlier, according to the country’s official statistics agency, with Argentine exports to China surging by 125% year-on-year and imports by 26%.

“It’s the great irony of Milei’s administration,” said Mariano Turzi, a professor of international relations at Austral University outside Buenos Aires.

“Milei rhetorically seeks to distance himself from China. But it was under Milei’s anti-communist libertarian government that China gained greater ground in the Argentine market.”

A spokesperson for Milei did not respond to a request for comment.

While companies have cheered Milei’s moves to halt spiraling inflation and relax rigid capital controls, Milei’s removal of tariff barriers and cuts to public works budgets have hurt local manufacturers in the long-protectionist nation. Struggling with one of the highest tax burdens in Latin America, Argentine manufacturers warn of unfair foreign competition particularly from China.

The first-ever delivery of Chinese electric vehicles at an Argentine port last month sparked tense debate following a string of factory closures and as other countries, like Mexico, imposing high tariffs on Chinese EVs to align with Washington.

One of Argentina’s leading tire manufacturers, Fate, shut down operations on Wednesday, laying off more than 900 employees. The company’s statement cited “changes in market conditions” which local media widely interpreted as a reference to competition with China, among other factors.

The ministry of labor ordered a 15-day suspension of the layoffs on Thursday to allow the company and union to negotiate a solution, even as the company indicated it was closing regardless.

China has financed the construction of hydroelectric dams and solar energy parks in Argentina, and maintains investments in key sectors like the nation’s fast-evolving mining industry. China’s lucrative Ganfeng Lithium has poured billions of dollars into lithium deposits in the country’s north.

A Chinese space facility that the U.S. claims could be used for military purposes — China’s first such facility abroad — has been running in the southern province of Neuquen for years.

As Milei faced the most critical moment of his presidency — heading into an October 2025 midterm vote with markets in turmoil — Washington offered $20 billion in financial relief to boost the Trump ally’s electoral prospects and halt the peso’s precipitous slide.

The stark intervention came as the Trump administration increasingly deploys what it calls its modern-day corollary to the Monroe Doctrine — the 1823 warning to European powers of American dominance in the Western Hemisphere.

Shortly after Trump’s contentious Argentina bailout, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed in an interview with Fox News that Milei was “committed to getting China out” of the South American nation.

But months later there is little evidence of that as Argentine officials go out of their way to insist that their country’s close ties to the U.S. do nothing to harm its relationship with China.

Even as Argentina and the U.S. signed a sweeping trade agreement earlier this month, Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno recently told reporters in Buenos Aires that the deal “does not imply that China cannot participate or will not participate in investments in Argentina.”

Gedan, from the Wilson Center, said that for all of Milei’s cavorting around Mar-a-Lago and Washington, Argentina stands out as “a great example of the limitations of the Monroe Doctrine.”

___

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america