AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko
Donald Trump has told Argentina’s president-elect Javier Milei that he plans to travel to the South American country so the two can meet, Mr Milei’s office said.
The office did not give a date for when the former US president intends to be in Buenos Aires. The inauguration of Mr Milei, a right-wing populist who has expressed admiration for Mr Trump, is scheduled for December 10.
“The president-elect received a call last night from the former president of the United States, Donald Trump, who congratulated him and pointed out his triumph by a wide margin in last Sunday’s election had a great impact on a global scale,” a news release from Mr Milei’s office said.
Luis Majul, a local journalist who was first to report the news, wrote on social media that Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, was the one who “facilitated” the contact between Mr Milei and the Republican front-runner.
“That’s right,” Mr Milei posted in response.
Mr Trump celebrated Mr Milei’s victory with a social media post of his own on Tuesday, saying in a video: “I am very proud of you. You will turn your country around and truly make Argentina great again.”
Mr Milei has often been compared to Mr Trump, who he praised in an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson earlier this year.
The Argentine called on Mr Trump to “continue with his fight against socialism, because he’s one of the few who fully understood that the battle is against socialism, that the battle is against the statists”.
His conversation with Mr Trump on Wednesday took place a few hours after Mr Milei spoke with US President Joe Biden.
The White House said Mr Biden congratulated Mr Milei and spoke of “the strong relationship between the United States and Argentina on economic issues, on regional and multilateral co-operation, and on shared priorities, including advocating for the protection of human rights, addressing food insecurity and investing in clean energy”.
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