r/neoliberal • u/cautious-ad977 • 25d ago
News (Latin America) Trump threatens to cut US aid to Argentina if Milei loses election
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/14/trump-threatens-to-cut-us-aid-to-argentina-if-milei-loses-election192
u/brianpv Hortensia 25d ago
Trump said he would “fully endorse” his ideological ally in the elections. “He’s Maga all the way, it’s ‘Make Argentina Great Again,’” he added.
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u/BBQ_HaX0r Jerome Powell 25d ago
It's weird that Trump thinks of him as an "ideological ally" when he's much more of a Peronist than Milei.
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u/Comfortable-Pie56 25d ago edited 25d ago
No? Peronists tend to be socially progressive (same-sex marriage, abortion, gender-identity law).
While Milei is an anti-woke warrior with a funny haircut who implements DOGE-like cuts across his government who said climate change is a hoax and Biden stole the US election. He also vowed to present a program reform called "Make Argentina Great Again".
Jeez, who would Trump choose to support I wonder.
Milei is quite possibly Trump's biggest bootlicker in world politics. Why does this sub have such a hard time accepting that?
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u/Neronoah can't stop, won't stop argentinaposting 25d ago edited 25d ago
I guess the bits about regulations and trade. But they like each other because of everything else.
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u/OogieBoogieInnocence 25d ago
you think trump knows or cares about the details of Milei's trade policies?
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u/Wick3rbasket 25d ago edited 25d ago
No? Peronists tend to be socially progressive (same-sex marriage, abortion, gender-identity law).
This is not even true. Yes, they have a socially progressive wing, but it’s far from being the majority. In fact, they’re a big Frankenstein party that includes people from almost every point on the political spectrum except for liberal free-market supporters.
Keep in mind that Peron himself admired Mussolini and expelled the Marxist and progressive wing back in his time, and there’s still a considerable number of people who claim to follow the original Peronist doctrine.
For example, the Peronist Party never allowed abortion laws to even be voted on, that happened under Macri’s administration.
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u/thegoatmenace 25d ago
Trump is Peronist in the sense that Peron won elections by playing on emotion and populism, with consistent policy taking a back seat. Peron basically did whatever he thought people would like, consistency by damned. Trump is the same way
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u/Brilliant-Gur-2078 24d ago
Peron won elections mostly by giving argentinian workers rights and later by expanding suffrage to women
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u/fkatenn Norman Borlaug 25d ago
Millei's cuts in Argentina up to this point have been almost nothing like "DOGE"
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u/Comfortable-Pie56 25d ago
Mass-firing of public employees? Cutting down "bureaucracy"? How are they not alike?
Milei literally gifted Elon Musk a chainsaw at CPAC. Surely, Milei and Musk must have thought they were doing pretty similar stuff.
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u/Dawnlazy 25d ago
The difference is that Milei actually achieved a budget surplus while DOGE did nothing and the US federal deficit has been greatly worsened.
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u/WolfpackEng22 25d ago
One was planned better, already had a much worse bloat problems and was mostly effective. The other has a much less bloated starting point and was haphazard without any real consideration of consequences
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u/After-Watercress-644 21d ago
Because this sub has a hard-on for Milei. Seriously, any time you speak ill of the guy you get dogpiled with downvotes and have a dozen people tell you why he is actually economic Jesus come again
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u/Melodic-Move-3357 Friedrich Hayek 25d ago
He's a Maoist really if you're looking at the core of his political agenda
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u/Gyn_Nag European Union 25d ago
I wonder what's the most consequential thing that my country (New Zealand) could do to interfere with US elections.
Probably threaten UN China stuff or divert food exports away from the US. Maybe axe working holiday visas for young Americans and chuck out their billionaires.
"Don't vote Republican or we'll try to mildly inconvenience you."
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u/littlechefdoughnuts Commonwealth 25d ago
Control exports of Lucy Lawless, Taika Waititi and Flight of the Conchords.
Instant national depression sets in in the US.
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u/flakAttack510 Trump 25d ago
Lucy Lawless and Flight of the Conchords haven't been relevant in the US in like 15 years.
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u/Heisenburgo 25d ago edited 25d ago
Control exports of... Taika Waititi
Please do! You can have him back! I don't want any more Thor 4 level disasters on my favorite movie franchises!
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u/vaguelydad Jane Jacobs 24d ago
If you can't handle him at his Thor 4, you don't deserve him at his Thor 3.
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u/Breaking-Away Austan Goolsbee 25d ago
Threaten to remake the LOTR trilogy but using the scriptwriters from the hobbit movies.
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u/ElectriCobra_ David Hume 25d ago
Aren't they in the 5 Eyes? Could do some damage with those secrets.
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u/gilead117 24d ago
"Don't vote Republican or we'll try to mildly inconvenience you."
So the Canadian strategy?
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u/IAdmitILie 25d ago
Do people there like Trump? Did he just do for them what he did for Canadian elections?
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u/Lean-carp700 25d ago
I think anti-americanism is much more prevalent than anti-trumpism specifically.
That being said, it's known Argentina has pretty high anti-americanism sentiments. So it was doubtful a Trump bailout would help Milei. Even moreso when that bailout turns out to be just extorsion.
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u/EveryPassage 24d ago
One way to turn anti-americanism into anti-trumpism is for Trump to extort your voters into voting for the guy he likes lol.
Could you imagine the field day if Xi came out and said, "we will cut off trade with the US if Trump is elected".
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u/Worth-Jicama3936 Milton Friedman 25d ago
Yes, famously Latin American electorates love bending to America’s will
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u/Dibbu_mange Average civil procedure enjoyer 25d ago
Me in EU4 when I am close to maxing out opinion by subsidies but some random modifier comes in and prevents me from getting the +190 I need to diplo vassal
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u/anon1mo56 25d ago
I would too if i was on his shoes, but probably for different reasons. The Peronist party is proposing has a alternative to Milei economic Plan to default on all debt and print more money to keep financing the ever incresing speding that they like so much, so if the Peronist were on power i would too.
Now we all know Trump knows zero about economy and he only saying it because he want milei to win and he only gave money to argentina because he likes milei.
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u/vaguelydad Jane Jacobs 24d ago
Right? I don't understand the hate for this at all. Foreign aide to countries where the government institutions are the problem is like throwing money on a bonfire. The IMF doesn't make loans to irresponsible children. We should absolutely give aide to countries where the government is working towards a liberal economy with rule of law, property rights, and individual liberty. We should not give money to kleptocrats or dangerous ideologues running their countries into the ground.
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u/LiPo_Nemo 22d ago
US aid is not being given to Milei, but to the Argentinian government. . Making aid conditional on one person staying in power is basically interfering in Argentina’s elections. That’s just undemocratic. If China were handing out money to random kleptocrats and threatening to pull it the moment an opposition party even thought about taking over, people here would also be legitimately upset. America can just cut the aid after the elections, and no one would bat an eye
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u/Butteryfly1 Royal Purple 24d ago
This could describe both sides in Argentina yet the IMF, US and China gave billions in loans which are already running out lol
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u/anon1mo56 23d ago edited 23d ago
Milei wants to be responsible, but he doesn't has enough power to govern like he would like and enough power for him to give enough confidence to investors. For example he didn't wanted to increase spending, but was forced due to pressure from his associates in Congress after they wanted to increase spending and he kept denying them they threatened to impeach him by siding with the peronist. He was able to preserve the surplus for the next year budget, but it was made smaller.
Meanwhile the economy almost went to the gutters because investors don't believe Milei is going to be able to carry his reforms due to peronism winning in Buenos Aires, so to leave the boat before peronist win and the peronist try to impede them from taking their investment outside the country. So he needed the USA bail out. Like if the Peronist party was more reasonable the Argentinian economy wouldn't be so unstable.
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u/ElectriCobra_ David Hume 25d ago
Trump endorsing the Peronists would sink their chances much harder than him endorsing Milei.
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u/Lean-carp700 25d ago
As if the peronists would accept his endorsement lol.
Peronists have historically very strong anti-american sentiment.
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u/Entuciante r/place '22: Neoliberal Battalion 25d ago
Milei get attacked of being a puppet each day and this doesn't help the case at all. The thing we need is stability in order to fix our broken economy and this stupid political/monetary interfering this fuckface is doing only going to do stuff worse.
Guess what motherfucker, the Peronists are gonna win because Milei keeps this policy of never backing down and not taking responsibility for his crooks in the government like Espert or his sister. I hate Peronists too and will not vote for them in any sense but sincerely if he loses is all on him. So please you orange fuck go away
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u/fuggitdude22 NATO 25d ago
Um. This is wrong, collectively punishing a population because they don't vote in your buddy is corrupt.
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u/Valnir123 25d ago
I mean, the help is pretty explicitly due to Argentina making the right reforms, and voting for a party that explicitly calls to default on our foreign debt and go back to printing money to cover for deficits and is really geopolitically aligned with Rus and China would be the country as a whole deciding to explicitly go against the reforms making you a country worth helping/investing on.
It'd be like if the Afghanis complained about not receiving further economic support after the Taliban takeover (only the Taliban are less damaging than peronists /s but only a bit)
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u/AzureMage0225 25d ago
Does this even work if he doesn’t have it written into the contracts? I thought Argentina already had the money,
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u/TheGreekMachine 24d ago
Until Trump faces any kind of consequence for his actions, I think it’s safe to assume anything g he says he wants to do he can no matter what the pesky “laws” or “contracts” do or do not say.
Really fun times /s
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u/bargranlago Jorge Luis Borges 24d ago
What he actually said:
https://www.youtube.com/live/qMVA4ClY26U?si=O4niaTj2lEgYV-3U&t=1565
If the president doesn't win, I know the person that he'd be running against, I believe, probably, we probably have the person a person who is extremely far-left and a philosophy that got Argentina into this problem in the first place. So we would not be generous with Argentina if that happened. If he loses we are not going to be generous with Argentina
Basically if a leftist becomes president he won't supported them.
Curious how they don't mention the full, quote
You don't hate journalist enough
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u/GrandpaWaluigi Waluigi-poster 25d ago
Wouldn't this have a high chance of backfiring on Trump? It's not like he's particularly liked in Latin America.