Argentina’s factories reel as Milei opens economy to global competition

Argentina’s industrial base is sputtering after President Javier Milei dismantled protectionist policies and opened the economy to global competition. A surge of imports, a weak peso regime, and high rates have left many plants with idle capacity and shrinking output, with examples like a shoe factory cutting workers from ~120 to 14. The decline has driven tens of thousands of industrial job losses and thousands of company closures in recent years, even as the government frames the shift as necessary “creative destruction” toward a more prosperous future and critics warn of an uneven playing field and worsening living standards.