Emmanuel Macron arrived in Argentina on Saturday evening to meet ultraliberal President Javier Milei, admirer of Donald Trump, in the hope of “hooking him up” to the “international consensus” particularly in the fight against global warming, on the eve of the G20 in Brazil.
The presidential plane landed around 7:00 p.m. (10:00 p.m. GMT) at Buenos Aires airport, according to the Elysée. The French head of state, accompanied by his wife Brigitte, was then due to have dinner with his Argentine counterpart and his sister Karina Milei, secretary general of the presidency, before another interview on Sunday.
“We don't always think the same thing on many subjects. But it's very useful to discuss” ahead of the G20, declared Emmanuel Macron in a video from his plane published on TikTok.
“We are going to talk about our commercial interests, our trade, the defense of our agriculture and our farmers,” he added.
During his tour of Latin America which will also take him to Chile, he must explain to the Mercosur countries, which includes Argentina and Brazil, why he is opposed to the signing of a free trade agreement between this regional bloc and the European Union.
French farmers plan to mobilize in the coming days against this treaty that the European Commission, supported by several countries such as Germany and Spain, hopes to sign by the end of the year. They fear a surge of Latin American meat, and warn against unfair competition from products not subject to the strict environmental and health standards in force in Europe.
The timing of this visit is special. Javier Milei returns from Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump's residence in Florida, where he participated in a conservative forum during which he advocated an “alliance” with the United States, Giorgia Meloni's Italy and Israel to preserve “Western heritage” threatened, in his eyes, by “the cultural hegemony of the left”.
Both the US president-elect and the Argentine leader are toying with the idea of turning their backs on major multilateral climate agreements and goals.
In this context, Emmanuel Macron hopes to “convince Argentina to continue to participate in the international consensus”, explains the Elysée. And therefore “connect President Milei to the priorities of the G20”, in which they will participate Monday and Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro.
Argentina has just withdrawn its delegation from the COP29 climate negotiations in Baku, and speculation is rife about its possible exit from the Paris Climate Agreement. A gesture that Donald Trump himself made during his first term.
In Paris, it is argued that Emmanuel Macron is one of the only foreign leaders received in Buenos Aires since the election of his counterpart.
Tribute to the victims
The French president likes to display his ability to dialogue with controversial, even ostracized, counterparts. Even if it means showing a certain proximity, without denying the differences, even if the results of this approach have so far been mixed.
“It will be a test of Macron’s weight and influence in Latin America,” said Oscar Soria, an Argentinian activist and veteran of climate negotiations. “If he cannot convince Milei to stay in the Paris Agreement, it will show that he has lost his aura in the region,” he adds, fearing that this will open the way to other “cascading” withdrawals from South American countries.
While the forced reforms and the deep cuts in public spending to bring Buenos Aires back to budgetary balance are controversial for their social cost, France is rather complimentary, judging that they are “going in the right direction”.
Paris also intends to deepen economic relations, particularly in the field of critical metals, while the French mining company Eramet has just inaugurated a lithium mine in Argentina.
Emmanuel Macron should also try to advance the possible sale of French Scorpène submarines, even if the French presidency puts the progress of the negotiations into perspective.
On Sunday, the French president will also pay tribute to the twenty French people who disappeared and were murdered under the Argentine military dictatorship between 1976 and 1979, while Javier Milei is accused by his detractors of revisionism on this dark page in the history of his country.
After Argentina, then the G20, Emmanuel Macron will go to Chile, where he will give a speech to the Congress in Valparaiso on Thursday on his policy towards Latin America.
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