Shops across Argentina were shuttered and the streets in the capital, Buenos Aires, were quiet on Tuesday after the country’s largest union called a 24-hour strike to protest President Mauricio Macri’s handling of the economy, which has been racked by runaway inflation.
Argentina’s main agricultural port of Rosario was closed by the strike, as were public transport services and private freight shippers, unions said. Financial markets were open as normal but traders said volumes were small.
The strikers are demanding the government compensate for inflation expected to top 40 percent this year, driven by a 50 percent slide in the value of the peso currency against the dollar.