The Argentine president, Javier Milei, does not rule out leaving the Mercosur economic bloc, if this were necessary to secure a trade pact with Donald Trump and the United States. In statements given to Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Milei has assured that, although he hopes that it will not be necessary to abandon Mercosur, he will do so if this means closing a trade agreement with the United States.. Furthermore, the Argentine president has dropped that he is preparing to give a boost to the country’s capital markets, once he manages to stop intervening in the Argentine peso, a movement that Luis Caputo places on the calendar for the year 2026.
At the Davos forum, one of the protagonists of the 2025 edition is Javier Milei, even before giving his speech, scheduled for this Thursday. The Argentine president has granted an interview to the agency Bloombergand the meeting has left two starters. The first, the president’s willingness to leave the Mercosur bloc, if this were necessary to close a trade agreement with Donald Trump’s United States.
Milei has assured that he would be willing to leave the bloc, but also believes that “there are mechanisms that can be used, even within Mercosur, so that it can be closed.” [el pacto con Trump] without it being necessary to abandon” Mercosur. The Argentine president has avoided confirming whether he debated with Donald Trump about a possible trade agreement in his recent trips to the United States, but he has acknowledged that The Argentine government is working “very hard” to close a deal with the North American giant.
Milei’s reference is based on the problems that have occurred in the past, when a Mercosur member has negotiated on its own to join another trade agreement, as was the case of Uruguay, in 2022, when it tried to join a pact. free trade in Asia. In fact, last week, Paraguayan President Santiago Peña criticized a possible trade agreement between the United States and Argentina, even though Peña has been critical of Mercosur on some occasions.
The Argentine president’s statements follow the critical line that he has maintained in recent years with the Mercosur bloc, which he has come to describe as a protectionist “prison.” However, in recent months the president has maintained a cautious attitude on this front, and was one of the voices that advocated for the bloc to close a free trade agreement with the European Union, at the end of last year, after two decades of open negotiations on this front.
Argentina’s return to the markets
Milei’s interview with Bloomberg It has also left a headline in reference to the boost to Argentina’s financial markets in the coming years. The president has assured that he will begin to give a boost to the country’s capital markets, as soon as he is able to lift the currency controls that he currently maintains. Although he has avoided giving a specific date for this, Luis Caputo, the country’s economy minister, has told investors that his plan is to lift capital controls in 2026 and start knocking on investors’ doors at that time.
#Milei #opens #door #leaving #Mercosur #close #trade #pact #Trump