{"id":224715,"date":"2025-10-14T19:25:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T19:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/224715\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T19:25:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T19:25:10","slug":"trump-warns-argentina-of-aid-cut-if-elections-dont-favor-us-interests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/224715\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump warns Argentina of aid cut if elections don’t favor US interests"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump<\/a> on Tuesday threatened to pull assistance for Argentina \u2014 led by a political kindred spirit whose philosophy aligns with that of the Republican administration\u2014 if the nation\u2019s internal politics don\u2019t go the United States\u2019 way in its upcoming elections.<\/p>\n

The comments came during a meeting with Argentine President Javier Milei, whose country is set to hold midterm elections for its legislative body later this month. U.S. presidents typically do not weigh in on the candidates in other countries\u2019 democratic elections.<\/p>\n

Referring to an opponent that was \u201cextremely far-left\u201d who encompassed a \u201cphilosophy that got Argentina into this problem in the first place,\u201d Trump warned that the United States wouldn\u2019t \u201cwaste our time\u201d with largesse toward Buenos Aires if Milel does not prevail. In addition to the midterms that will be a referendum on his policies, Milel himself is up for reelection in 2027. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina,\u201d Trump said from the Cabinet Room as he prepared to eat lunch with Milei.<\/p>\n

Trump stressed that the $20 billion assistance to Argentina, which administration officials strenuously deny is a bailout, was about helping \u201cour neighbors.\u201d The aid, he added, is \u201cjust helping a great philosophy take over a great country.\u201d <\/p>\n

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent<\/a> added that the administration believed Milei\u2019s coalition in the upcoming midterms would \u201cdo quite well and continue his reform agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he opened his lunch with Milei, Trump noted that the Argentine president, who is an economist by trade, is \u201cMAGA all the way,\u201d That traditionally refers to his campaign slogan, \u201cMake America Great Again,\u201d but this time, it also meant \u201cMake Argentina Great Again.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ahead of his White House meeting, Milei lavished praise on Trump, deploying a tactic that has helped transform Milei\u2019s cash-strapped country into one of the Trump administration\u2019s closest allies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The effusive declarations are nothing new for Milei \u2014 whose dramatic cuts to state spending<\/a> and attacks on \u201cwoke leftists\u201d<\/a> have won him a following among U.S. conservatives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour commitment to life, freedom and peace has restored hope to the world,\u201d Milei wrote on social media Monday, congratulating the U.S. president on securing a ceasefire deal in Gaza<\/a>, where a truce is holding after a devastating, two-year Israel-Hamas war. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an honor to consider you not only an ally in the defense of those values, but also a dear friend and an example of leadership that inspires all those who believe in freedom,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Milei arrived at the White House on Tuesday afternoon and was warmly greeted by Trump. The two men posed for photos, both giving a thumbs-up.<\/p>\n

When asked by a reporter for his message to Argentina, Trump said: \u201cWe love them. We will be there for them,\u201d adding that Milei is a \u201cvery great leader.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Trump-Milei bromance<\/a> has already paid off for Argentina \u2014 most recently, to the tune of a $20 billion bailout<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Experts say Milei comes to the White House with two clear objectives. One is to negotiate U.S. tariff exemptions or reductions for Argentine products. <\/p>\n

The other is to see how the United States will implement a $20 billion currency swap line to prop up Argentina\u2019s peso<\/a> and replenish its depleted foreign currency reserves ahead of crucial midterm elections later this month. <\/p>\n

In a crisis, turning to Trump<\/p>\n

The Trump administration made a highly unusual decision to intervene in Argentina\u2019s currency market after Milei\u2019s party suffered a landslide loss in a local election last month<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Along with setbacks in the opposition-dominated Congress, the party\u2019s crushing defeat created a crisis of confidence<\/a> as voters in Buenos Aires Province registered their frustration with rising unemployment<\/a>, contracting economic activity and brewing corruption scandals<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Alarmed that this could herald the end of popular support for Milei\u2019s free-market program, investors dumped Argentine bonds and sold off the peso. <\/p>\n

Argentina\u2019s Treasury began hemorrhaging precious dollar reserves at a feverish pace, trying shore up the currency and keep its exchange rate within the trading band set as part of the country\u2019s recent $20 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But as the peso continued to slide, Milei grew desperate. <\/p>\n

He met with Trump on Sept. 23 while in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly<\/a>. A flurry of back-slapping, hand-shaking and mutual flattery between the two quickly gave way to Bessent<\/a> publicly promising Argentina a lifeline of $20 billion. <\/p>\n

Markets cheered, and investors breathed a sigh of relief.<\/p>\n

Timing is everything<\/p>\n

In the days that followed, Argentine Economy Minister Luis Caputo spent hours in meetings in Washington trying to seal the deal. <\/p>\n

Reassurance came last Thursday, when Bessent announced that the U.S. would allow Argentina to exchange up to $20 billion worth of pesos for an equal sum in dollars. Saying that the success of Milei\u2019s program was \u201cof systemic importance,\u201d Bessent added that the U.S. Treasury directly purchased an unspecified amount of pesos.<\/p>\n

For the Trump administration, the timing was awkward as it struggles to manage the optics of bailing out a nine-time serial defaulter<\/a> in the middle of a U.S. government shutdown that has led to mass layoffs<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But for Argentina, it came in the nick of time. <\/p>\n

Aware of how a weak currency could threaten his flagship achievement of taming inflation<\/a> and hurt his popularity, Milei hopes to stave off what many economists see as an inescapable currency devaluation until after the the Oct. 26 midterm elections. <\/p>\n

A devaluation of the peso<\/a> would likely fuel a resurgence in inflation. <\/p>\n

\u201cMilei is going to the U.S. in a moment of desperation now,\u201d said Marcelo J. Garc\u00eda, political analyst and Director for the Americas at the Horizon Engage political risk consultancy firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needs to recreate market expectations and show that his program can be sustainable,\u201d Garc\u00eda added. \u201cThe government is trying to win some time to make it to the midterms without major course corrections, like devaluing or floating the peso.\u201d<\/p>\n

No strings attached<\/p>\n

Milei was vague when pressed for details on his talks with Trump, expected later on Tuesday. Officials say he would have a two-hour meeting with the U.S. president, followed by a working lunch with other top officials. <\/p>\n

Another topic expected to be raised during the Trump-Milei meeting is the Stargate project, which would expand a network of massive artificial intelligence centers to Latin America, according to a person with knowledge of the plans who was granted anonymity to speak about private discussions.<\/p>\n

Argentina could be home to Latin America\u2019s first Stargate, which is a joint initiative from OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank that will build a network of big data centers that would power OpenAI\u2019s artificial intelligence technology. It\u2019s an initiative that\u2019s been championed by Trump himself. <\/p>\n

In Argentina, OpenAI said it will be working with energy and infrastructure developer Sur Energy to build the project and that it will be \u201cpowered by clean energy,\u201d though it didn\u2019t say to what extent. It also said Sur would be working with a cloud infrastructure developer but didn\u2019t name which cloud provider.<\/p>\n

Milei also planned to participate in a ceremony at the White House honoring Charlie Kirk, the prominent right-wing political activist<\/a> who was fatally shot last month. Milei often crossed paths with Kirk on the speaking circuit of the ascendant global right.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have a single-issue agenda, but rather a multi-issue agenda,\u201d Milei told El Observador radio in Buenos Aires Monday. \u201cThings that are already finalized will be announced, and things that still need to be finalized will remain pending.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear what strings, if any, the Trump administration has attached to the currency swap deal, which Democratic lawmakers and other critics have slammed as an example of Trump rewarding loyalists at the expense of American taxpayers. <\/p>\n

There has been no word on how Argentina, the IMF\u2019s largest debtor, will end up paying the U.S. back for this $20 billion, which comes on top of IMF\u2019s own loan<\/a> for the same amount in April. And that one came on top of an earlier IMF loan for $40 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite all the help, Milei\u2019s government already missed the IMF\u2019s early targets for rebuilding currency reserves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. should be concerned that Argentina has had to return for $20 billion so quickly after getting $14 billion upfront from the IMF,\u201d said Brad Setser, a former Treasury official now at the Council on Foreign Relations. <\/p>\n

\u201cI worry that this may prove to just be a short-term bridge and won\u2019t leave Argentina better equipped\u201d to tackle its problems, he added.<\/p>\n

But in the radio interview before his flight, Milei was upbeat. He gushed about U.S. support saving Argentina from \u201cthe local franchise of 21st-century socialism\u201d and waxed poetic about Argentina\u2019s economic potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be an avalanche of dollars,\u201d Milei said. \u201cWe\u2019ll have dollars pouring out of our ears.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Debre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Associated Press writer Matt O\u2019Brien in Providence, Rhode Island contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to pull assistance for Argentina \u2014 led by a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,1927,15665,126173,92678,126176,28,14271,49204,12,1070,793,44452,10817,1929,3140,126175,126174,3,22997,2474,111,4666,12302,18598,74,20443,21,792,19,22,20,25,24,800,965],"class_list":["post-224715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-ap-top-news","tag-argentina","tag-argentina-government","tag-assassination-of-charlie-kirk","tag-brad-setser","tag-business","tag-central-america","tag-charlie-kirk","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections","tag-general-news","tag-international-monetary-fund","tag-israel-hamas-war","tag-labor","tag-latin-america","tag-luis-caputo","tag-marcelo-j-garca","tag-news","tag-openai-inc","tag-oracle-corp","tag-politics","tag-scott-bessent","tag-softbank-corp","tag-south-america","tag-technology","tag-u-s-department-of-the-treasury","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-government","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-washington-news","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}