Changes in government always generate expectations about the actors that will orbit around the new power and the return of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States is no exception. This second return of the businessman to the White House also has an Argentine chapter in relation to the people who will have direct links with the new Washington officials. Who will those men be? Where do they come from and who do they know? What role will the United States Embassy in Argentina have?
One of those who benefited from the chance of personal relationships was the senator of the province of Buenos Aires and PRO leader Alex Campbell, who established a relationship with Donald Trump’s lawyer, Carlos Trujillo, through Jorge’s current chief of staff. Macri, Gabriel Sánchez Zinny.
Trujillo is a Republican politician based in the state of Florida and is currently an important advisor to President Trump, who was in charge of the campaign focused on the so-called Latino vote. He was the United States ambassador to the OAS and, most importantly, he owns a law firm in which he has as partners Jesús Rodríguez, one of Trump’s personal lawyers, and Katie Weils, daughter of Susy Wiles, the future head of Cabinet of the incoming president. This entire group of people is based in the State of Florida, where today the most relevant figure is Marco Rubio, Trump’s future Secretary of State. The Trujillo law firm has an office in Washington, three in Florida cities (Tallahassee, Miami and Jacksonville) and only one outside the United States, in Buenos Aires. Here, the one serving is Alex Campbell.
Another well-known North American consultant with offices in Buenos Aires is Freddy Balsera, who has a historical relationship with Democrats and Republicans in Florida. Today his main asset in the Trump government is Marco Rubio, with whom he shares a social life outside of politics. His partner in Buenos Aires is the consultant Juan Manuel “Jota” Domínguez, who in recent weeks has been active working for two North American clients with intentions of investing in Argentina.
Equipment
One is Jorge Mas, the owner of Inter Miami, the MLS team where Lionel Messi plays, who sought to stay with the construction of the Vaca Muerta Sur oil pipeline with his company MasTec. The winner of this tender, controlled by YPF, was a joint venture between Techint and Sacde. But he made it known that he was left with the feeling that he was thrown out for being North American and there was preference for Argentine players. In football terms, you could say that they made him feel at home.
The other business in which Balsera is behind is the privatization of the turbine manufacturing company Impsa, of which the national State is the majority shareholder. The Government announces it as the first privatization of the Milei era and the main interested party is the North American company Arc Energy, which in Argentina is advised by the Balsera consulting firm.
A peculiarity that Balsera has is that he also knows Peronist actors whom he helped connect in the United States. For example, during Sergio Massa’s last year as Minister of Economy and presidential candidate, Balsera organized different meetings in the United States with Democratic and Republican congressmen.
More players
A third Argentine with close friends of Trump is businessman Gustavo Cinosi, special advisor to OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro. Cinosi is a friend of Mauricio Claver Carone, former president of the IDB, who has an excellent relationship with Trump and was already announced as the future Special Envoy of the State Department for Latin America. Claver Carone also has an old grudge with Milei’s Chief of Staff, Guillermo Francos.
Of course, one of the institutional ways to get involved is the United States Chamber of Commerce in Argentina (AmCham).
Lobbyists become relevant in this new relationship that is opening up between Argentina and the United States because since Milei assumed the presidency, every time he traveled to the United States he dispensed with any official channel to organize a government agenda. He visited Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Donald Trump himself and also took spiritual trips to the tomb of the Lubavitch Rebbe. Perhaps, in the business world, friends of Trumpism are more effective than institutional relationships.
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