by JUAN SAMANIEGO
The Argentine president’s reformist agenda seeks to eliminate environmental, social and human rights protection standards in order to attract foreign investment. Booming demand for lithium plays a key role in Milei’s new policy.
He went to Davos to introduce himself to the world at the World Economic Forum. To Israel and Italy to strengthen his international position. To Washington to meet with Donald Trump, to Texas to meet with Elon Musk at his Tesla factory, and to Los Angeles to shake hands with Silicon Valley heavyweights. And he ended up in Madrid to close ranks with VOX. Javier Milei’s first six trips after winning the Argentine elections were a declaration of intentions, not only political and ideological, but also economic. Beyond rhetorical gestures and political fuss, the president has a clear agenda: to open Argentina’s doors to foreign investment at any cost.
In parallel to his travels around the globe, the government born out of the elections of October and November 2023 has launched a large number of legislative reforms with the same objective, some of them with serious environmental implications. The first major regulatory package, baptized as the Omnibus Law, sought to repeal the Native Forest Protection Law and the Glacier Protection Law, although both reforms eventually fell out of the proposal after strong internal and external pressures (including a warning from several UN human rights rapporteurs).
What the new far-right government did end up pushing through was a reform of the Land Law – which no longer limits the possession of land by foreign individuals and legal entities – and the Incentive Regime for Large Investments (RIGI), which puts the environmental and social sovereignty of Argentina’s provinces at risk. “Milei sees environmental, labor or human rights standards as an impediment to investment and development,” explains Pia Marchegiani, director of environmental policy at the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN).
In the midst of the reformist agenda of Milei’s government, there is one strategic resource that shines above the rest and takes us back to Silicon Valley and the office of Elon Musk and many other tech tycoons: lithium.
Who wants Argentina’s lithium?
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