(Bloomberg) -- Little more than a year after storming to the presidency with a mandate to rip up the rule book and do whatever was needed to turn Argentina around, Javier Milei feels vindicated in his tear-it-down approach to governing.
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But he’s also learning its limits.
Milei, who attended Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington this week before flying on to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, was full of praise for the US president’s promised “golden age” during an interview with Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait in Davos.
He equally displayed a pragmatic streak that risks being at odds with the new administration.
Asked about his views toward China, having previously slammed Beijing as “assassins,” he referred to “some very positive meetings” with Chinese Embassy officials in Argentina and with President Xi Jinping during last year’s Group of 20 summit in neighboring Brazil.
“We consider we have complementary economies and we have a lot to do together — they’re great trade partners,” Milei said. “The idea is to deepen the commercial relationship.” That includes with an upcoming visit to China.
It’s a very different tack to Trump, who has just threatened tariffs of 10% on China from February, and whose Secretary of State Marco Rubio is a noted China hawk.
“Well, sometimes one has to learn,” Milei said, when asked about his new appreciation for China in office, eliciting laughs and applause from the audience. “Don’t you learn every day? Well, if I don’t learn, I hurt Argentines. I have extra pressure to learn fast.”
Milei was in an ebullient mood, cheered on by an appreciative Davos audience. He has some justification for a victory lap after delivering Argentina’s first fiscal surplus since 2009 and wrangling monthly inflation to under 3% — from over 25% when he took office in late 2023.
But the challenges ahead remain gargantuan. Milei has promised to remove currency and capital controls this year, just as Argentines go to the polls for midterm elections. Any misstep in their removal could send inflation spiraling. And the need to spur growth is urgent.
Milei said he would leave Mercosur if necessary to cement a free-trade agreement with the US, although — in another display of pragmatism — added that he hopes to reach a deal without needing to take such drastic action. He demurred on whether he had discussed a potential agreement with Trump or members of his administration while in Washington. But, he said, his government has been “working very hard” on a deal with the US.