General strike against President Milei's austerity disrupts Argentina

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s trains and subways were disrupted, flights grounded, grain shipments interrupted, deliveries halted and banks shuttered as unions held a general strike Thursday against the libertarian government of President Javier Milei.

The daylong strike comes as Milei is 16 months into a presidency that has sought to eliminate Argentina’s fiscal deficit through severe austerity measures.

The stoppage — led by the country’s main union confederation, CGT — tried to bring Argentina to a standstill a day after union activists joined a weekly protest of retirees rallying for increases to their government pensions, most of which are now set at the equivalent of some $300 a month and have lost significant ground to inflation.

Union members, including train conductors, teachers, customs officials, trash collectors and postal workers, walked off the job at midnight on Wednesday for 24 hours. Airports emptied as the main airlines halted operations. Many public hospitals were only dealing with emergencies. The government said the stoppage cost the economy some $880 million.

“We are joining the strike for fair collective bargaining, solidarity with retirees and the country's poorest and for the crisis that we are experiencing,” said Néstor Segovia, assistant secretary of the subway workers' union.

Still, the strike appeared to draw only lukewarm support.

The bus workers’ union opted out of the transport shutdown due to ongoing wage negotiations, allowing most commuters to take their usual route to work. Although the taxis’ union supported the stoppage, cabs could be seen cruising the streets for fares. In the trendy neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, cafes and clothing stores bustled as usual.

Argentina’s powerful trade unions have been controlled by the Peronist party — the country’s long dominant political movement, now in opposition — ever since they helped vault its founder, Juan Domingo Perón, to power in 1945. They remain central to the system that Milei has sought to tear down.

“This strike pursues political interests and has nothing to do with the workers,” said Manuel Adorni, spokesperson for Milei. “It's one of the last gasps of those who live off extortion and pressure.”

Across the deserted train stations in Buenos Aires, loudspeakers broadcast a government statement criticizing the strike as “an attack on the republic.”

President Milei, for his part, appeared unfazed. All morning, he shared dozens of social media posts celebrating an announcement that the Trump administration’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent planned to visit Argentina next week.

“President Milei has brought Argentina back from economic oblivion,” the Treasury’s press release said, adding that Bessent would seek to “encourage the international community to fully support President Milei’s economic reform efforts."

Those efforts, cheered by Wall Street, President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, have aimed to yank Argentina out of its traditional preserve of reckless spending under left-leaning populist rule.

Milei has slashed subsidies, undone price controls, scrapped government ministries and fired more than 42,000 state workers. The spending cuts hit the population immediately, with a big portion of the government's fiscal savings last year coming from social programs and pensions.

Thursday's general strike called on the government to boost spending on the gutted health and education sectors, reinstate fired employees and reopen talks over wage hikes, among other measures.

“The only thing the government has brought is a wave of layoffs in state agencies, a rise in poverty rates and international debts that are the biggest scam in the history of Argentina,” the country's aviation union said in affirming its participation in Thursday's strike.

The union was referencing the International Monetary Fund’s $20 billion bailout package for cash-strapped Argentina announced earlier this week.

The board of the IMF — which has long been associated in Argentina with the country’s devastating devaluation and sovereign default in 2001-02 — is expected to meet about the initial deal Friday.

The government badly needs this money to meet its debt repayments, lift strict capital controls and regain the confidence of investors.

The Retiro train station is empty due to a general strike against the austerity measures of President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A policewomen takes a photo of her colleagues at Consititucion train station that is empty due to a general strike against the austerity measures of President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

The Consititucion train station is empty during a general strike against the austerity measures of President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A lone worker walks at the Consititucion subway station during a general strike against the austerity measures of President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Trains stand still at the Retiro train station due to a general strike against the austerity measures of President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A lone worker walks inside the Jorge Newbery airport during a general strike against the austerity measures of President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A stranded passenger sleeps at Jorge Newbery airport during a general strike against the austerity measures of President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Two workers walk alongside empty railroad tracks at the Retiro train station during a general strike against the austerity measures of President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A lone worker walks through the Retiro train station that is empty due to a general strike against the austerity measures of President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, April 10, 2025. The sign reads in Spanish "The unions attack millions of Argentines who want to work. If they extort you or force you to join the strike, report it to 134," and is a message to commuters from the government. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Stranded passengers wait at Jorge Newbery airport during a general strike against the austerity measures of President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — President Donald Trump was set to address graduating students at the University of Alabama on Thursday, a visit that drew hundreds of protesters to an off-campus rally.

Trump’s evening remarks in Tuscaloosa will be the Republican president’s first address to graduates in his second term and will come as he has been celebrating the first 100 days of his administration. The visit came shortly after he announced a shake-up to his national security team, with Mike Waltz being tapped for United Nations ambassador and Secretary of State Marco Rubio taking over Waltz's national security adviser role on an interim basis.

The White House offered no details about Trump’s planned message to graduates.

Alabama, where Trump won a commanding 64% of the vote in 2024, is where he has staged a number of his trademark large rallies over the past decade. It is also where Trump showed early signs of strength in his first presidential campaign when he began filling stadiums for his rallies.

While Trump has described the speech as a commencement address, it is actually a special event that was created before graduation ceremonies that begin Friday. Graduating students have the option of attending the event.

Former Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban is also speaking.

Ahead of the president's arrival, cap-and-gown-wearing graduates and their families began filing into the arena where Trump was set to speak. Many seemed excited about the prospect of seeing him in person.

Emily Appel, a 22-year-old advertising major from Norcross, Georgia, called Trump's appearance at their school “a cherry on top” of her college years.

“I think it’s such an honor, no matter who the president is. I think this is a huge honor to have the president of the United States speaking to our school," Appel said.

She called Trump a “very influential person” and said she hoped he had a message to share that was "positive about us being able to work in the real world and for our future.”

Sophie Best, who is graduating with a communications degree, said, “I don’t think that we could have had a greater person come to speak."

The 21-year-old from Cartersville, Georgia, said she attended Trump's first presidential inauguration in 2017 when she was a freshman in high school, along with her father, who she said loves Trump.

“I think that no matter what political party or whatever you believe in, I think that it’s super cool that we get to experience and make history and be a part of this,” she said.

At a park several miles away, hundreds of people gathered at a counter rally hosted by College Democrats. One-time presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke of Texas and former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, the last Democrat to hold statewide office in Alabama, were slated to address the rally, called a “Tide Against Trump” — a play on the university’s nickname.

Aidan Meyers, a 21-year-old junior studying biology at the university, said he felt betrayed by the decision to let Trump speak at a graduation-related event.

“I felt betrayed that the university was willing to put up with someone who has made it clear that they hate academia, essentially holding funding above universities' heads as a bargaining chip, unless they bow down to what he wants, which is kind of a hallmark sign with fascist regime,” Meyers said.

He said he also feels betrayed by the administration’s stance on science and research. A fellowship he was seeking at the National Institutes of Health was canceled because of the federal hiring freeze, he said.

O'Rourke praised the students who invited him as “inspiring” and said their efforts in a Republican-dominated state like Alabama are an example for the rest of the country.

“You cannot be too red or too rural or too Republican to be written off right now. You also can't be too blue or too liberal to be taken for granted,” O’Rourke told The Associated Press after arriving in Tuscaloosa. “You've got to show up absolutely everywhere. We truly are in crisis.”

Trump’s presence has also drawn criticism from the Alabama NAACP, which said his policies are hurting universities and students, particularly students of color.

Trump's visit to Alabama is his second trip this week. He held a rally in Michigan on Tuesday to mark 100 days in office.

Outside of weekend trips for personal visits, the president has not made many official trips since taking office on Jan. 20. He usually speaks to the public from the impromptu news conferences he holds in the Oval Office and at other events at the White House.

After his stop in Alabama, Trump is scheduled to travel to Florida for a long weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Later this month, he is scheduled to give the commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York.

Associated Press writer Bill Barrow contributed to this report from Atlanta.

President Donald Trump walks with Air Force Col. Angela Ochoa, Commander of the 89th Airlift Wing from Marine One to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., en route Tuscaloosa National Airport, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)