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The U.S. rushed to stabilize Argentina’s economy on Thursday, offering $20 billion in financing and carrying out a rare intervention in currency markets to prop up the peso after weeks of sharp declines.
Washington has finalized a $20 billion currency swap framework with Argentina’s central bank, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a social media post. The U.S. also directly purchased pesos, he said, a move that follows unsuccessful efforts by Argentine authorities to stabilize the exchange rate on their own.
President Donald Trump and Bessent are making a bet on a nation that’s defaulted and devalued repeatedly over the past several decades. The goal is to help their political ally President Javier Milei notch a win in Oct. 26 midterm elections, and calm markets unsettled by fears of his leftist rivals returning to power.
“The U.S. Treasury is prepared, immediately, to take whatever exceptional measures are warranted to provide stability to markets,” Bessent said.
Milei welcomed the intervention, thanking Bessent and Trump in a post on X. “Together, as the closest of allies, we will make a hemisphere of economic freedom and prosperity,” he said.
‘Illiquidity’ trouble
Bessent characterized Argentina’s woes as “a moment of acute illiquidity,” suggesting he doesn’t see a fundamental issue with its ability to make good on its debt. It isn’t immediately clear what the U.S. is asking of Argentina in return for its aid. Milei has denied that the U.S. asked Argentina to get rid of a separate $18 billion swap line with China.
While speculation had risen before Bessent’s announcement that the U.S. might press Argentina to allow a free float of the peso, the Treasury chief said the country’s “exchange rate band remains fit for purpose.”
“Argentina’s policies, when anchored on fiscal discipline, are sound,” Bessent said. He also said he discussed potential investment incentives for U.S. companies who may want to do business in Argentina.
Argentina’s dollar bonds jumped across the curve, with some of the nation’s most liquid notes up more than 4 cents on the dollar to session highs. The peso, which started the day down 2.7% as local authorities stayed out of the market for the first time in more than a week, ended it 0.7% higher against the dollar.
Summit coming
Trump and Milei will meet at the White House Oct. 14 in their second sit-down, after they held talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September.
The announcements follow several days of U.S. discussions with Argentina’s economic team, including Economy Minister Luis Caputo, who had also met this week with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. Argentina is by far the Fund’s biggest debtor, owing some $55 billion after a string of bailouts.
The new bilateral “swap” would likely be different from the swap lines that the Federal Reserve has with other developed-economy central banks, and more reminiscent of tools used by Washington to bail out Mexico three decades ago.
“It’s familiar terrain” for Bessent, said Gregory Faranello, head of U.S. rates for Amerivet Securities Inc. — alluding to the former hedge fund manager’s long experience in the foreign-exchange market. But even a $20 billion line is “unlikely to fix the underlying challenges,” he said.
Politicians’ concerns
The move to aid Argentina has already been questioned on both sides of the aisle in Washington for conflicting with Trump’s “America First” agenda. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has been among the most vociferous critics, and on Thursday asked a group representing hedge funds and asset managers whether they played a role in Washington’s aid.
For his part, Milei has repeatedly said the government isn’t the solution while wielding a chainsaw to symbolize federal spending cuts in Argentina. After promising to close his central bank during his campaign two years ago, the currency swap line now runs through it.
Trump’s financial lifeline for Milei comes on top of the U.S. supporting a separate $20 billion April agreement for Argentina with the IMF. That was Argentina’s third bailout from the fund since Trump’s first term.
(With assistance from Manuela Tobias, Ignacio Olivera Doll, Nicolle Yapur and Saleha Mohsin.)
