Spanish
New York.- Argentine President Javier Milei praised his US counterpart, Donald Trump, in New York this Wednesday, calling him a "friend" and an "inspiration", and promised "irreversible" growth in Argentina after the "central" legislative elections in October.
Milei was one of the three recipients tonight of the 2025 Global Citizen award from the Atlantic Council, along with French President Emmanuel Macron and FIFA President Gianni Infantino, at a ceremony at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in Manhattan.
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The Argentine leader received the award from the hands of the US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, who called him a "visionary leader" and applauded his "tireless efforts to make Argentina great again", a motto that imitates Trump's, and which Milei appropriated. "I want to especially thank President Donald Trump and Secretary Scott Bessent for having given Argentina a boost of support at a time of high uncertainty," began the Argentine in his speech, who highlighted the "strategic alliance" between the two nations. Milei claimed that his Government is following an economic "normalization" plan in an "election year" and "against the manuals of political orthodoxy", acknowledging that he has applied "unpleasant measures in appearance, but fundamental", he said, to return the country to growth. It was then that the Argentinian defended that he is "applying ideas that served other countries", putting "what is right" before "what is comfortable", and assured that it is something that his "friend Donald Trump understands more clearly than anyone", and that is an "inspiration" for his far-right Executive. "In the case of Argentina, we know that this is just beginning, that it's time to build the building on the foundations we have laid. It's time to ratify the course, to carry out the remaining reforms so that they are definitive reforms," he affirmed, and called on his voters. He accused those who were "benefited by the previous regime" of seeking to "do harm" before the renewal of Congress at the end of October, and added: "They know that the time to destroy us is now, because Argentina will soon begin to grow irreversibly." Milei then brandished Trump's slogan, "Make America Great Again," and said it was a "shared fight" for the two countries, after which he recalled the assassination of the ultraconservative activist Charlie Kirk, which he attributed to the violence of the "left" and its "criminal ideas". The distinction to Milei is the culmination of the day in which he has sealed the promise of financial aid from the United States, after meeting the day before with Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and celebrating his policies on migration and tariffs at the event. Following that meeting, Trump expressed his electoral support for Milei, and Bessent announced this Wednesday that a currency swap (bilateral contract that allows covering exposure to risk) for 20 billion dollars is being negotiated between the Federal Reserve (Fed) and the Argentine Central Bank. The secretary also stated that the Treasury is "ready" to buy Argentine sovereign bonds in dollars and to grant a "significant 'stand-by' credit" - the volume of which he did not specify - through the Treasury's Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF).
