While in Washington D.C for Donald Trump’s inauguration as 47th President of the United States on Monday, Argentine President Javier Milei took a moment to reflect on the occasion.
Milei, is in a wintry Washington D.C, to cement the pair’s far-right ideological affinities giving a clear perspective of what U.S.-Argentine relations to expect.
Milei was also present a religious ceremony at 10 a.m. before joining the official inauguration. The event held in the Rotunda at the Capitol because of the icy winter temperatures. According to a spokesman for Milei, Manuel Adorni, the Argentine President attended the Starlight Gala.
On his first day in office, Trump signed several executive orders and other measures that would affect Latin America and Latin Americans in the United States.
These include declaring a national emergency at the US-Mexico border, declaring drug cartels to be foreign terrorist organizations, and reinstating the “remain in Mexico” policy Trump implemented during his first presidency.
“We will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came,” he said.
He also promised the United States would “take back” the Panama Canal. “China is operating the Panama Canal, and we didn’t give it to China,” he said. “We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”
The Gulf of Mexico, he said, would be renamed “the Gulf of America” — a proposal Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum mocked when Trump first mentioned it earlier in the transition.
Trump and Milei have met twice. He was the first world leader to meet with Trump after he won the U.S. elections in November, attending a gala at the incoming US president’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. The pair also greeted each other informally backstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington D.C. last February.
The incoming US president has heaped public praise on Milei in the past, comparing the Argentine’s leadership with his own. “Even Argentina, they went MAGA, you know Argentina, great guy,” Trump told the crowd at a rally in March. “He’s a big Trump guy. He loves Trump, I love him, because he loves Trump. When he called I took his call, and anybody that loves me, I like them!”
Argentina’s Deregulation Minister, Federico Sturzenegger, said in a November interview that Trump’s decision to appoint business magnate Elon Musk to a newly-created “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) was inspired by Milei. Addressing business leaders in November, the president said that Musk was talking with Sturzenegger to discuss replicating his model in the U.S.
However, all eyes are on Trump’s decisions regarding tariffs in Latin America. The incoming president has promised heavy protectionist measures, while Milei is a radical libertarian who favors economic deregulation.
Ahead of his inauguration, Trump indicated that he would announce a barrage of measures as soon as he was sworn in. Critically for Latino communities, these may include major immigration raids as part of his campaign promise to deport undocumented migrants in the country, and he has promised to start with a large-scale operation in Chicago.
Milei will travel on to Switzerland for the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday.