President Javier Milei will arrive in Paraguay at noon on Wednesday for a bilateral meeting with his counterpart, Santiago Peña, the Argentine’s lone ally in the Mercosur bloc.

Milei is scheduled to meet Peña at the presidential palace at 12:30 p.m., while the formal talks will take place between 1 and 1:30 p.m. Peña and Milei met in person in Buenos Aires the day before the latter took office and had their first bilateral meeting in February 2024.

The pair will give a joint press conference open to questions after having a meeting with each of their respective teams. According to the official agenda, they will share lunch at 2:30 p.m., and Milei will return to Argentina right after.

The two share similar political and economic views and stand in stark contrast with the other two Mercosur members, center-left presidents Lula da Silva (Brazil) and Yamandú Orsi (Uruguay).

Mercosur and the U.S. tariffs

The meeting comes days after United States President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on foreign products caused the global economy to titter. 

Mercosur is yet to make an official statement on the 10% tariff applied to most Latin American countries. The foreign ministers of the bloc member countries are set to meet on Friday. And although the gathering was initially scheduled to debate the potential softening of Mercosur trade restrictions, the tariffs issue is expected to be discussed.

Argentina called for the meeting, which will be held in Buenos Aires, since the country currently has the pro tempore presidency.

Last week, da Silva said he would take “all possible measures to defend Brazilian companies and workers” from the impact of this decision, adding that Brazil had enough reserves to resist.

Milei, on the other hand, said his government has already changed multiple country regulations to comply with the United States reciprocal tariff policy that went into effect on Wednesday. On Tuesday, United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer confirmed that the Argentine government has offered to lower taxes for U.S. products as part of its negotiations over the tariffs Washington has imposed.