Tesla cybertruck fan Javier Milei defends Argentines buying Chinese cars

Javier Milei fantasises about barrelling through the streets of Buenos Aires in a Cybertruck, painted black and emblazoned with a golden lion. Or maybe an Italian car.

“It would be marvellous!” the president of the South American nation told Bloomberg News Editor-In-Chief John Micklethwait in an interview.  

But if the people of Argentina want to buy cars from China, Milei’s not going to stop them. “They can buy cars wherever they want. Who am I to say?” he said Thursday in New York. “What Argentines buy is their problem.”

Milei, once a harsh critic of China who called its government an “assassin” and said he wouldn’t negotiate with Communists, has softened his tone since his election in 2023. Meantime, the Asian country is close to leapfrogging Brazil to become Argentina’s most important trading partner. 

That’s partly because of the flow of commodities such as soybeans, but it’s also visible in the proliferation on Argentine roads of cars made by companies such as BYD Co. The Chinese auto giant isn’t permitted to sell in the US, where Milei’s idol Donald Trump is seeking to protect homegrown automakers. 

Milei, who considers himself a libertarian, said he won’t go that route. But he insisted he wouldn’t criticise the US president for his policy.

“I can’t give recommendations to another governor or president in the world because I don’t know their situations or their restrictions,” he said. “If you want my opinion about Trump, he is a wonderful president.”

Milei, who has also visited Elon Musk at Tesla Inc’s Texas headquarters, may not have to wait long to buy a Cybertruck to bolster his “Batman image,” as he put it. The US automaker has been laying the groundwork to enter Argentina as soon as next year, according to the Buenos Aires Herald.