Argentine President Javier Milei, who swept to power on a radical platform of dollarizing the economy, abolishing the central bank, and replacing the peso with the U.S. dollar, has admitted that his flagship policy has hit an unexpected roadblock — the people themselves. In a recent television interview, Milei stated bluntly: “People don’t want it.”
Currency Competition Fails, Peso Still Reigns
Milei explained that the government had already legalized the use of the dollar for financial transactions and even offered tax amnesty to encourage citizens to switch, but the response has been lukewarm at best. “We’ve proposed endogenous dollarization. Endogenous. That is, if you want, you can make your transactions in dollars, and yet people don’t. We’ve enacted tax amnesty, and yet people don’t take advantage of it,” he stressed. Concluding, he noted that “strictly speaking, you can’t force things on people.”
This marks a dramatic retreat from Milei’s earlier promises. In 2024, he announced a system of currency competition that allowed Argentines to use any currency they chose — including bitcoin — for transactions. He also partially lifted currency controls, creating a floating system with a fixed band for the dollar. However, the policy backfired, and the dollar’s exchange rate threatened to spiral out of control. In October 2026, Milei had to call in help from the Trump administration. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stepped in, describing the intervention not as a bailout but as a smart trade: “Argentina is a beacon in Latin America. This isn’t a bailout; it’s buying low and selling high. The peso is undervalued.”
US Treasury Intervention Highlights Dependency
The U.S. intervention stabilized the peso but exposed the fragility of Milei’s economic reforms. Critics on social media accused Milei of using dollarization as a campaign gimmick and abandoning it once in office. While Milei continues to push other free-market reforms, the core promise of full dollarization appears to be on hold indefinitely. Analysts point to the deep-rooted preference for the peso among ordinary Argentines, a legacy of decades of economic volatility, as the main obstacle. The episode underscores that even with presidential will and U.S. backing, forcing a currency change on a reluctant population is not feasible.