Aide to Argentina's Milei meets Brazil minister, softening tone

Argentine President-elect Javier Milei's top foreign policy adviser had a meeting with Brazil's foreign relations minister on Sunday, in another sign the radical libertarian might keep softening his tone with many he had harshly criticized before. Diana Mondino posted on social media platform X that she was in Brasilia to meet President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, sharing a picture alongside him.

Argentine President-elect Javier Milei's top foreign policy adviser had a meeting with Brazil's foreign relations minister on Sunday, in another sign the radical libertarian might keep softening his tone with many he had harshly criticized before.

Diana Mondino posted on social media platform X that she was in Brasilia to meet President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, sharing a picture alongside him. Later, Brazil's government confirmed her visit and said Mondino, who is widely expected to be named by Milei as Argentina's incoming foreign minister, was there to invite Lula to the president-elect's inauguration on Dec. 10.

"They also discussed aspects of the bilateral relationship and the current stage of Mercosur-EU negotiations," the Brazilian foreign relations ministry said in a statement. During his campaign, far-right Milei suggested he would balk at doing business with Brazil, his country's top trade partner, dubbing the leftist Lula an "angry communist" and "socialist with a totalitarian vocation".

The new Argentine leader is closer politically and personally to former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who Lula defeated in elections last year, and has personally invited him to his inauguration. Mondino's meeting with Vieira comes as Milei last week also softened his tone with China's communist leadership, thanking President Xi Jinping for a letter congratulating him. China is Argentina's second-largest trade partner.

Milei meanwhile is set to travel to the U.S. on Sunday, a spokesperson told Reuters, noting he would attend a religious ceremony in New York and have meetings in Washington. The libertarian economist had previously said his first overseas trips ahead of taking office would be to the U.S. and Israel.

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