Can Argentina’s New President Javier Millay, the “Trump of Argentina,” Make His Country Great Again?

Long live freedom, dammit!”

The economist, whose trademark is his shaggy hair and wild fringe, shouted this in front of the nation at the Argentine presidential election runoff held on November 19.

The man’s name is Javier Millay, 53. He was ranked third in the polls until August of this year, but with an upset victory, he has captured the title of Argentina’s next president.

He is “a self-described ‘anarcho-capitalist’ and is known as the ‘Trump of Argentina’ for his radicalism.” He only became a congressman in 21 years and launched his own group of legislators, Freedom Forward, two years ago.

Nevertheless, he was able to win 21 of Argentina’s 24 provinces, probably because many people sympathized with his point that privileged politicians are stealing the wealth of the common people. The ‘Peronism’ that has taken root in the country has reached its limits,” said economic commentator Yutaka Asaka.

Peronism is a way of thinking that follows the anti-globalism and pro-weakness line of Juan Peron, who assumed the presidency in 1946. The Argentine government has so far actively protected labor unions, nationalized foreign companies, imposed state control over trade, and provided subsidies for utilities and daily necessities, thereby attracting support from the working class.

Under the current government, more than 40% of state finances are spent on social security and 10% on subsidies to corporations. Despite this, more than 40% of the population lives below the poverty line. No wonder the public, dissatisfied with the current situation, agrees with Mr. Millay’s radical claims,” said Asaka.

As Asaka says, Mr. Millay has consistently made “radical statements” during his presidential campaign. In order to solve the abnormal inflationary situation of 140% per annum, he said, “Inflation will increase because we keep printing the Argentine peso. We should abolish the peso and use the U.S. dollar as the domestic currency. In a TV program on which he appeared, he said, “Abolish the central bank! and even literally destroyed a model of Argentina’s central bank with a hammer. He has also taken aim at diplomacy.

The current administration was leftist and pro-China, but Mr. Millay, who is not afraid to say that he is a follower of Donald Trump (77), is completely pro-US. He went to the U.S. first after his victory in the presidential election was confirmed, and he just returned to Japan on November 29.

He has fundamentally overturned Argentina’s economic policies, declaring that “getting along with China is the same as joining hands with an assassin! and declared that he would leave China. After assuming the presidency, he will take more aggressive action to realize a scrap-and-build approach. But, as it turned out, he was not so sure.

Since he was elected, he has been taking a very pragmatic approach. When he received a congratulatory message from Chinese President Xi Jinping (70), whom he had disliked so much, he sent his thanks and commented on social networking sites, saying ‘Best regards’ to the Chinese people.

Mr. Millay’s stated economic policies will also be greatly modified. To abolish the Argentine peso in the first place, the country would have to buy up all the pesos and exchange them for dollars, which would require about $40 billion. Such a large sum of money is not available to the current government. I think they will build up practical reforms to strengthen their influence.” (Asaka, above)

Argentina, which was the world’s fifth largest economy until the 1930s, has the potential to regain its glory: it has the world’s third largest reserves of lithium, for which demand is growing for EV batteries, and it is one of the world’s largest energy producers in terms of shale gas reserves.

From the standpoint of a local businessman, I am glad that Mikhail Millay was elected president. There are even Japanese companies that said, ‘If Millay doesn’t win, we will withdraw from the country. Mr. Millay said he will not be stingy with investments to attract foreign companies and acquire foreign currency, which had been stalled by government and central bank regulations, and to make the country internationally competitive. Whether it can be realized or not is another matter. ……” (Mr. Tanaka, above)

Can the “Trump of Argentina” make his country “great again?”⁉

From the December 22, 2023 issue of FRIDAY