{"id":84812,"date":"2025-09-25T13:05:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T13:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/84812\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T13:05:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T13:05:17","slug":"us-negotiates-20-billion-bailout-and-debt-purchase-with-argentina-economy-and-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/84812\/","title":{"rendered":"US negotiates $20 billion bailout and debt purchase with Argentina | Economy and Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

Any doubts about the extent of the support the United States has decided to provide Argentina<\/a> were dispelled Wednesday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced before the markets opened that the White House is negotiating with the government of Javier Milei over a $20 billion currency swap to strengthen the Central Bank\u2019s reserves, the purchase of Argentine debt bonds, and a \u201csignificant stand-by credit via the Exchange Stabilization Fund,\u201d the amount of which was not specified. \u201cArgentina has the tools to defeat speculators, including those who seek to destabilize Argentina\u2019s markets for political objectives,\u201d Bessent wrote on social media, implying that Washington could react if the attacks suffered by the South American country\u2019s peso and bonds last week are repeated.<\/p>\n

The Treasury announcement comes a day after Trump and Milei met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York<\/a>. Before the meeting, Trump had said the Argentine was \u201ca truly fantastic and powerful leader for the great people of Argentina,\u201d who has advanced \u201cat all levels at record speed.\u201d Trump had also offered Milei his \u201ccomplete and total endorsement for reelection as president,\u201d despite the fact that the general election is still more than two years away.<\/p>\n

Milei\u2019s time is rather short: on October 26, there are national legislative elections, and a defeat could be devastating for market confidence in his austerity model. The president has been clear about what could happen since September 7, when Peronism swept local elections in the province of Buenos Aires<\/a> and the Argentine peso and bonds came under fire. The attacks only ceased last Monday, when the United States made it clear that it was willing to do \u201cwhatever it takes\u201d to support Milei.<\/p>\n

Bessent has now given indications about the aid Washington is willing to provide. The $20 billion swap is the most concrete. From that sum, the $5 billion from the Buenos Aires-China line will have to be deducted. Argentina\u2019s cancellation of this swap is a priority for Washington, which since Trump\u2019s return to the White House has embarked on a campaign to limit Beijing\u2019s regional influence. Aid to Milei is part of that much broader strategy.<\/p>\n

The purchase of Argentine debt bonds in dollars is another pillar of the bailout, although Bessent clarified that negotiations will begin after the October 26 elections. It is unclear how a defeat or victory for Milei will affect the talks. If Peronism wins again, Argentina faces months of great economic instability.<\/p>\n

Argentina\u2019s Economy Minister Luis Caputo was the first senior official to react to Bessent\u2019s message. \u201cWhat more can I add than thank you, Secretary Scott Bessent. Argentines, a new era is beginning. Let\u2019s all work together to make our country great again!\u201d he wrote on social media. Minutes later, Milei thanked Trump for the gesture with unusual restraint. \u201cThank you, President @realDonaldTrump and Mr. Secretary @scottbessent for your strong support and confidence in the Argentine people,\u201d he wrote. To close, he replaced his customary \u201cLong live freedom, damn it!\u201d with \u201cMAGA!\u201d <\/p>\n

The first evidence that the markets<\/a> had received Bessent\u2019s announcement enthusiastically was the collapse of Argentina\u2019s country risk, that is, the spread it pays on its debt over the interest on U.S. debt. The index, compiled by JP Morgan, fell from just over 1,000 points at Tuesday\u2019s close to 839 points at the opening, a drop of almost 18%. It\u2019s still far from the 500 points of a year ago, but it represents a notable improvement over the 1,500 points it reached last Friday, amid a speculative attack on the Argentine peso and bonds.<\/p>\n

Sign up for our weekly newsletter<\/a> to get more English-language news coverage from EL PA\u00cdS USA Edition <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Any doubts about the extent of the support the United States has decided to provide Argentina were dispelled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174],"tags":[394,79,356,179,18,19,17,11901,56181,2712,56180],"class_list":{"0":"post-84812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-argentina","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-javier-milei","16":"tag-luis-caputo","17":"tag-scott-bessent","18":"tag-washington-d-c"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}