Milei pitches US-Argentina trade deal to Trump-friendly audience

President Javier Milei took his pitch for a free-trade accord with the United States to a conservative conference near Washington, saying he wants to be first in line to reach a deal. 

Argentina's leader cited US President Donald Trump’s threat of reciprocal tariffs against US trading partners in a well-received speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, which Trump is scheduled to address later Saturday.

He said Argentina’s membership in Mercosur, the South American trade bloc, is an obstacle.

“I want to take this chance to announce that Argentina wants to be the first country in the world join this reciprocal accord that the Trump administration proposed on trade matters,” Milei said. “If we were not restricted by Mercosur, Argentina would already be working on a mutually beneficial free-trade deal with the United States.”

Milei, who has embraced Trump as an ideological soulmate, pledged in his speech to collaborate with countries that share his vision of freedom and keep shrinking the state bureaucracy. 

Since arriving in Washington on Thursday, Milei has met Elon Musk and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, with whom he discussed an IMF debt agreement to boost Argentina’s economy.