World’s Only Libertarian President Javier Milei Keeps Cool on Trump Tariffs

President Javier Milei on Thursday announced that Argentina will readjust its internal regulations to meet the requirements of President Donald Trump’s tariff proposals.

Milei, a career economist and the world’s first and only libertarian president at press time, made the announcement during a brief speech at the “American Patriots Gala,” an event organized by the “We Fund the Blue” charity organization at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

“In this framework, and as a result of the meetings that Foreign Minister [Gerardo] Werthein had with the U.S. Department of State and the Secretary of Commerce, Argentina will move forward to readjust the regulations so that we comply with the requirements of the reciprocal tariffs proposal, prepared by President Donald Trump,” Milei said.

“We have already complied with 9 of the 16 necessary requirements, and I have instructed my country’s Foreign Ministry and the Secretary of Commerce to move forward in complying with the remaining requirements,” he continued. “As you will see, we make policy with deeds, not mere words, and in that we agree with President Trump.”

President Trump imposed a ten-percent tariff on Argentina on April 2. Milei stated at Mar-a-Lago that Argentina is committed to taking the necessary measures to resolve the asymmetry with the United States “in a short period of time.”

The Argentine president further explained that Argentina will also move forward with the “harmonization of tariffs” on a list of approximately 50 items so that they can “flow more freely” between both nations as per the terms of a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) signed by both countries in March 2016.

“This is not an isolated measure, but a step forward in Argentina’s decision to move forward in a trade agreement with the United States of America where tariffs and trade barriers are just a bad memory of the past,” Milei said.

“Because in the end we are very clear about one thing. There is no other way than freedom. That is why to make Argentina great again and for the mutual benefit of our two nations we must work back to back as strategic partners with common goals,” he continued.

Unlike other heads of state who have issued fierce criticism or condemnation of President Trump’s tariffs, Milei simply published a social media message shortly after the tariffs were presented that read “Friends will be friends,” followed by the acronyms TMAP (“Everything Goes According to Plan”) and VLLC (“Long Live Liberty, Damn It”). Milei accompanied the message with a link to the eponymous song “Friends Will Be Friends” by British rock band Queen.

Argentine presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni told reporters on Thursday that the Argentine government “does not believe that this is an attack on free trade, quite the contrary.” Adorni asserted that Argentina benefited when compared to the tariffs imposed on other countries and added that the government will continue to work together in what Buenos Aires considers a “wonderful relationship that we have with the United States.”

Milei, Economy Minister Luis Caputo, and General Secretary of the Presidency Karina Milei traveled to Florida for a brief trip to participate in the “American Patriots Gala” in Mar-a-Lago. Milei was awarded with the “Lion of Liberty Award” during the event in recognition of his “unwavering dedication to freedom, free market economics and conservative values.”

Although the Argentine government expected that Milei and President Trump would hold a meeting at Mar-a-Lago, unnamed Argentine sources told the newspaper La Nación on Friday morning that President Trump “arrived late” at Mar-a-Lago and did not participate in the event. Milei was scheduled to return to Buenos Aires right after the event.

“When we were informed that Trump was late, that he was not going to participate in the event and that he was going home, we left,” the source reportedly said. “It was always said that an informal meeting was likely. It was a scheduling issue. These are things that happen.”

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.