Juan Gonzalez, the adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden and the National Security Council’s Western Hemisphere senior director, confirmed that a U.S. delegation offered support to Argentina’s president-elect Javier Milei during the South American nation’s talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as well as the development of Argentina’s lithium sector.
“I think priority number one is the economic challenges that Argentina is facing,” Gonzalez explained in an interview hours after meeting with Milei. Argentina is currently facing hyperinflation approaching 150%, with poverty levels exceeding 40%. The country is also struggling to keep up with its $44 billion IMF program, given the government’s deepening fiscal deficit and growing economic recession.
Currently, the world’s fourth-biggest lithium producer, Argentina’s potential to grow in the sector goes beyond production, the U.S. president’s advisor explained. Gonzalez believes that Argentina could expand into refining lithium and other activities up the value chain.