Buenos Aires | Argentina’s powerful left has vowed to fight austerity measures set out by the new maverick libertarian President Javier Milei after his government pledged to halt new public works, halve government ministries and slash subsidies in an attempt to balance the budget next year.

Union leaders called urgent meetings as Mr Milei announced more details of his “shock therapy” plans, while Axel Kicillof, the governor of Buenos Aires province from the left-leaning populist Peronist movement, promised: “We are going to fight boldly … we will have to be much more creative and much more militant.”