Perónism With a Red Hat

Trump’s tariffs echo the same populist mistakes that ruined Argentina

Two populist leaders. Two economic experiments. One's dismantling the state to save his country. The other's building one to destroy his.

Let's talk about irony. Argentina just elected someone who takes a literal chainsaw to government agencies. America elected someone who takes a metaphorical chainsaw to free markets.

Both wave the working class flag. Only one actually understands economics.

Javier Milei inherited an absolute disaster when he became Argentina's president in December 2023. Inflation was running at 211.4% annually. The peso was toilet paper. Government spending was out of control. Classic Latin American death spiral.

His response? Pure free-market shock therapy. By December 2024, his administration had logged 672 deregulations. Rent controls? Gone. Import licenses? Scrapped. "Buy Argentina" mandates? Deleted.

The results came fast. In Buenos Aires, rental supply jumped 170% while real rents fell 40-50%. That's what happens when you stop choking markets with bureaucratic nonsense.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, is doing the exact opposite. On April 5, 2025, he slapped a 10% tariff on literally everything America imports. Not just China. Everything. Penn Wharton estimates this will reduce GDP by 8% and wages by 7%.

That's not America First. That's America Last.

Here's what Trump's actually building: crony capitalism with patriotic branding. The federal government now owns a 9.9% stake in Intel through CHIPS Act requirements. Tariff waivers get handed out like party favors to friendly corporations. The government picks winners, takes a cut, and threatens the losers.

Wall Street Journal's Greg Ip nailed it when he called this "state capitalism" — the bastard child of socialism and capitalism where bureaucrats guide private investment decisions. It's the China model with a MAGA hat.

The U.S. State Department once described Peronism as "a vague concept of social justice... more akin to a religion than a political movement."

Sound familiar?

While Milei cuts government payrolls (48,000 jobs eliminated by May 2025), Trump oversees exploding debt. U.S. gross federal debt pushed past $37 trillion in August 2025. The "tariffs will pay for themselves" fantasy is still just that — fantasy.

Argentina's monthly inflation crashed from 25% in late 2023 to low single digits by mid-2025. The medicine tastes bitter. Real wages fell. Public services got slashed. Universities and hospitals screamed.

But the patient is stabilizing.

America is choosing the opposite medicine. Higher costs for consumers, market distortions, and massive debt accumulation. All in the name of "bringing jobs back."

America still holds the best energy hand in the world. 2024 crude output hit around 13.2 million barrels per day — a global record. That cushions some of the tariff pain.

But here's what's happening while America builds walls: Asia is building bridges. China, Japan, and South Korea restarted trilateral trade talks in 2024 specifically to reduce their dependence on U.S. markets. When you weaponize trade, don't be shocked when your targets find new suppliers.

Argentina was the 10th richest country in the world when Juan Perón took power in 1946. Eighty years of populist policies turned it into an inflation-wracked basket case.

Now they're finally trying to undo the damage.

America is running the same experiment in reverse.

Milei uses his power to reduce government power. Trump uses his to expand it. One is freeing markets. The other is capturing them.

Argentina is slowly, painfully moving toward freedom. America is sprinting toward control.