"The Treasury secretary announced a lifeline Thursday that's designed to pull the country's financial markets out of deepening turmoil, and a close political ally out of a hole. The US is offering swap arrangements to shore up the peso - and it's already stepped in directly to buy the currency, a move with few precedents in recent decades. "It's not a bailout at all," Bessent told Fox News late Thursday."
"Argentina's President Javier Milei - perhaps the Trump administration's strongest backer in Latin America, where superpower rivalry with China is heating up - has vowed to leave all that bad history behind. He says he's finally putting the country's public finances in order and getting a grip on rampant inflation, even if it means taking a chainsaw to the budget."
The US Treasury provided swap arrangements and directly purchased pesos to stabilize Argentina's currency and support President Javier Milei amid a sharp peso decline. The intervention aims to shore up markets after a provincial electoral setback reduced confidence ahead of national midterms. The plan assumes Milei can secure congressional backing to implement austerity and anti-inflation measures and restore investor confidence. Historical patterns of defaults, fiscal mismanagement and runaway inflation make success uncertain. The move also reflects US strategic concerns about China gaining influence in Latin America and a desire to avoid a failed state scenario.
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