Excerpt
March 3, 2025, Opinion: "President Trump, Elon Musk and President Javier Milei of Argentina have formed a special bond. Mr. Milei was the first foreign leader to meet with Mr. Trump days after he won the U.S. presidential election. Mr. Trump has called Mr. Milei his “favorite president.” And Mr. Musk has been in close contact with Mr. Milei’s government reform team since the U.S. election in November, if not before. So it was no surprise to Argentina watchers that Mr. Trump began his term by blocking government cash flows and firing workers, exactly as Mr. Milei’s government started doing a year ago. In recent months, Mr. Milei has been bragging about the “export” of his reform model. Governments should no doubt borrow good practices from one another. But it should give us pause that the United States, the world’s leading economy, is borrowing government reform techniques from Argentina, a nine-time serial defaulter and 100-year economic laggard. Mr. Trump, Mr. Musk and Mr. Milei may share the same anti-state rhetoric and use the same techniques, but they are taking their countries in very different directions."