Javier Milei

Force in Play

Attended summit; close Trump ally

The United States has not built a new military coalition in the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War. On March 7, President Trump gathered leaders from 12 Latin American nations at his Doral resort in Miami to launch the 'Shield of the Americas,' a framework for coordinated military and intelligence operations against drug cartels, and announced the Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition, a pledge from 17 countries to use lethal military force against transnational criminal organizations.

Updated Mar 7

Rule Changes

In office since December 2023

Argentina has protected its domestic industries with tariffs and import controls since the 1940s. On February 6, 2026, Buenos Aires signed its first bilateral trade agreement with the United States—eliminating barriers on over 200 categories of American goods and securing tariff relief on 1,675 Argentine products in return.

Updated Feb 7

Rule Changes

Driving pro-mining economic reforms

China controls roughly two-thirds of global rare earth mining and about 90 percent of processing—a concentration the United States now treats as a national security threat. On February 4, 2026, Secretary of State Marco Rubio convened ministers from 54 countries in Washington to unveil America's answer: a preferential trade bloc for critical minerals backed by price floors, billions in financing, and a new coordinating body called FORGE.

Updated Feb 5

Force in Play

In office since December 2023

Brazil protected Argentina's embassy in Caracas for 14 months after Nicolás Maduro expelled Argentine diplomats in July 2024. That arrangement ended on January 16, 2026, when Italy assumed custodianship—a shift triggered by Brazil's opposition to the U.S. military operation that captured Maduro two weeks earlier, and accelerated by Argentine President Javier Milei's sustained social media attacks on Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Updated Feb 3

Rule Changes

Signed agreement, plans to submit to Congress for ratification

Negotiations between the EU and Mercosur began in 1999. Twenty-six years later, on January 17, 2026, representatives signed a comprehensive free trade agreement in Asunción, Paraguay—the same city where Mercosur itself was founded in 1991. The deal eliminates tariffs on more than 90% of bilateral trade and creates the world's largest free trade zone, covering over 700 million consumers and roughly a quarter of global GDP. Days after the signing, the European Parliament voted 334-324 to refer the agreement to the European Court of Justice over legal concerns about the Commission's decision to split the deal into trade and non-trade pillars, potentially bypassing national parliaments.

Updated Jan 26

Rule Changes

Delivered third consecutive Davos speech; defended China trade ties

The World Economic Forum has convened annually in Davos for 55 years. This year's gathering—the first without founder Klaus Schwab—transformed into an emergency diplomatic summit when Trump's tariff threats over Greenland collided with record attendance from 60+ heads of state. By week's end, a NATO 'framework deal' had defused the immediate crisis, while Canadian PM Mark Carney delivered a declaration that European and middle-power leaders openly applauded: the U.S.-led rules-based order is over.

Updated Jan 23