The more I see of Argentina’s President Javier Milei, the more I like the guy. He’s doing big things in Argentina. They are still having tough times, and he warned the Argentinian people that things would get tougher before they get better, and they seem to be accepting that — so far.
Now I like him even more, because, like President-elect Donald Trump, he is considering pulling his country out of the Paris climate agreement. Afuera!
Argentina is weighing an exit from the Paris Agreement, joining the U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in reconsidering the global climate deal.
“We’re reevaluating our strategy on all matters related to climate change,” the country’s foreign minister, Gerardo Werthein, told The New York Times, adding that the country had fundamental doubts about what is driving climate change. The Washington Post also reported the news, citing an unnamed government official.
Argentina withdrew its delegation this week from the COP29 climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, just days into the two-week summit. Werthein told the Times no final decision had been made about the 2015 Paris accord, but noted Argentina was reconsidering participating in a deal that “has a lot of elements.”
Argentina, frankly, has much bigger fish to fry. One of those fish awaiting the fryer is establishing a good working relationship with the incoming American president.
“We decided to withdraw our delegation and reevaluate our position, nothing more,” Werthein said. “I think it’s a sovereign right.”
The Argentinian embassy in Baku did not respond to a request for comment.
Argentinian President Javier Milei has described climate change and the international effort to contain it as a “socialist lie.”
On Thursday, he met with Trump at the incoming president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. Milei was the first head of state Trump received in person since winning the Nov. 5 election.
I was lucky enough to see President Milei speak at CPAC 2024. He had the misfortune of following Donald Trump, a tough act for anyone to follow; and instead of a vivid political treatise like both he and President-elect Trump are known for, he instead delivered a rather subdued and wonkish essay on economics. He was interesting, all the same; among world leaders, President Milei has a considerably better-than-usual grasp of economics. I’ll listen to any such essay, as economics is something of a hobby for me — an odd hobby, maybe, but a hobby all the same.
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Argentina’s Milei Pokes His Finger in UN’s Eye, Rejects Their ‘Socialist Agenda’
Pulling Argentina out of the Paris Accords will be another demonstration of President Milei’s economic literacy — and, also, his desire to, in essence, Make Argentina Great Again. This agreement commits nations to spend a lot of money on ill-advised, impractical, low-energy-density “green” energy projects that are not even remotely economically viable. Argentina is better off charting its own energy course, and Javier Milei clearly sees this.
A national leader should put the interests of his nation and its people above and beyond all other considerations. That’s why Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Accords in his first term, and that’s why he is likely to do so again after the Biden administration re-committed us to that bad idea. That time, no other nation joined the USA in pulling out of the Paris Accords, but this time, Argentina may join us. Perhaps we’ll start a trend. Argentina is on the cusp of one of the more remarkable transformations in recent history, should Javier Milei be successful in carrying out his agenda; and it’s not unreasonable to make the same claim about Donald Trump and the United States.
These two leaders need to be talking to one another. Regularly.
Afuera!
