LA PAZ, Boliva (AP) — Last year, then-presidential candidate Javier Milei declared Argentina would not “make deals with communists” in China or Brazil, calling their leaders “murderers” and “thieves” in a bid to channel the populist energies of Donald Trump and other global far-right icons into a winning political message.

As world leaders at the G20 summit in Brazil are bracing for the return of U.S. President Donald Trump to the center of global affairs, one head of state in the room has given them an early taste of a familiar,

Macron's visit to Buenos Aires is an attempt to "reconcile" Argentina's chainsaw-wielding leader with "the priorities of the G20" and convince "Argentina to contribute to the international consensus," said an official from the Élysée Palace.

China's President Xi Jinping met with Argentine President Javier Milei on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, Chinese state television CCTV reported.

Argentina's leader appears to have little regard for multilateral institutions like the G20 and few qualms about irking world leaders with whom he disagrees.

Last year, then-presidential candidate Javier Milei declared Argentina would not “make deals with communists” in China or Brazil, calling their leaders “murderers” and “thieves” in a bid to channel the populist energies of Donald Trump into a winning political message.

EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles as well as the war in Ukraine were on the agenda as the leaders of two of the world's largest economies met on the sidelines of the summit in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro.