said in a statement<\/a> that the success of Argentina’s “reform agenda” was of “systemic importance”.<\/p>\n“A strong, stable Argentina which helps anchor a prosperous Western Hemisphere is in the strategic interest of the United States,” he added. “Their success should be a bipartisan priority.”<\/p>\n
The Treasury Department did not respond to questions seeking more detail about the US support, including how much of embattled peso the administration had purchased or the terms of the $20bn currency swap line, which will allow Argentina to exchange pesos for dollars.<\/p>\n
Speaking later on Fox News, Bessent said the support was not a bailout for Argentina and that the peso was undervalued.<\/p>\n
In a social media post, Milei thanked Trump and Bessent for support.<\/p>\n
“Together, as the closest of allies, we will make a hemisphere of economic freedom and prosperity,” he said. <\/p>\n
Argentina has defaulted on its debt three times since 2001, including most recently in 2020. <\/p>\n
But investors, including some with ties to Bessent such as Robert Citrone, had taken renewed interest in the country in recent years in a bet on Milei’s libertarian financial reforms. <\/p>\n
Since he took office in 2023, he has introduced deregulation and sweeping cuts to public spending to curb inflation and achieve a fiscal surplus \u2013 where the state spends less than it takes in revenue.<\/p>\n
Domestically, the austerity measures have been met with growing backlash, as people’s purchasing power declines and the country faces a likely economic recession. <\/p>\n
But those measures have helped to rein in inflation and have been largely welcomed by international investors and the International Monetary Fund, a key lender to Argentina. <\/p>\n
With Milei styling himself as a Trump-like figure, complete with “Make Argentina Great Again” rhetoric, they have also won admiration from many conservatives in the US. He has met repeatedly with Trump, with another visit expected next week.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, the decision to extend financial support to Argentina has sparked backlash among American farmers, a key part of Trump’s voter base, who have been concerned as China shifts purchases of soybeans to countries including Argentina. <\/p>\n
“Why would USA help bail out Argentina while they take American soybean producers’ biggest market???” Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who represents Iowa, a key soybean producer, wrote on social media last month, when the US first pledged its support. <\/p>\n
Bessent’s announcement followed four days of meetings with Argentina’s economy minister Luis Caputo. <\/p>\n
In his announcement, Bessent said the international community was “unified behind Argentina and its prudent fiscal strategy, but only the United States can act swiftly. And act we will.”<\/p>\n
He has previously pushed back at suggestions that the support amounted to a bailout for what Warren, in a statement on Thursday, dubbed the administration’s “billionaire buddies”.<\/p>\n
“This trope that we’re helping out wealthy Americans with interests down there couldn’t be more false,” Bessent told CNBC earlier this month.<\/p>\n
“What we’re doing is maintaining US strategic interest in the Western hemisphere,” he said, warning that inaction risked a “failed state”. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US has purchased Argentine pesos, taking the next step in a controversial effort to calm a currency…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46],"class_list":["post-201526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}