{"id":335564,"date":"2025-10-27T07:39:50","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T07:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/335564\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T07:39:50","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T07:39:50","slug":"bessent-calls-anti-tariff-tv-ad-psy-ops-and-says-rescue-of-argentina-is-still-america-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/335564\/","title":{"rendered":"Bessent calls anti-tariff TV ad ‘psy-ops’ and says rescue of Argentina is still ‘America first’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had sharply contrasting views of longtime U.S. ally Canada, which is a top target in President Donald Trump\u2019s trade war, and Argentina, which is getting a U.S. currency lifeline.<\/p>\n

In an interview Sunday on NBC\u2019s\u00a0Meet the Press with Kristen Welker<\/a>, he was asked about the additional 10% tariff<\/a> Trump said he will impose on Canada due to an anti-tariff TV ad that Ontario\u2019s government aired.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a kind of propaganda against U.S. citizens. It\u2019s psy-ops,\u201d Bessent replied, using shorthand for psychological operations. <\/p>\n

The ad features remarks from President Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs. Ontario\u2019s premier said he would take down the ad on Monday, after the first two games of the World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0a\u00a0Truth Social post<\/a>\u00a0on Saturday, Trump claimed the ad was a \u201cmisrepresentation of the facts,\u201d though trade experts say it was not, and a \u201chostile act.\u201d He had earlier called off talks with Canada over the ad.<\/p>\n

He also said it was meant to influence the Supreme Court, which will hear arguments on Nov. 5 in a case disputing his ability to invoke International Emergency Economic Powers Act to justify tariffs<\/p>\n

The Canadian prime minister\u2019s office and the Ontario premier\u2019s office didn\u2019t immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

But during an economic forum in Malaysia, Prime Minister Mark Carney appeared to sideline Ontario, telling reporters that\u00a0talks with the U.S. are the \u201csole responsibility of the government of Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later in the NBC interview, Bessent was asked about a $20 billion currency swap line that the U.S. extended to Argentina, which has struggled to prop up its peso.<\/p>\n

The rescue has come under criticism, including from Republicans like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who questioned how helping Argentina with billions of dollars is \u201cAmerica first\u201d while Americans are struggling with high costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is America first because we are supporting a U.S. ally,\u201d Bessent said. \u201cThere will be no taxpayer losses. This is a swap line. This is not a bail-out.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the money for Argentina comes from the Treasury Department\u2019s Exchange Stabilization Fund, which has never lost money and will not with its current program.<\/p>\n

However, U.S. currency intervention has so far failed to halt the peso\u2019s slide. And Wall Street expects Argentine President Javier Milei, who has drawn praise from Trump and other Republicans, to devalue the peso soon after the country\u2019s midterm elections on Sunday, with some analysts wondering if the U.S. will get paid back<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bessent reiterated that the administration seeks to prevent the emergence of another \u201cfailed state\u201d in Latin America that would join Venezuela.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we think it is much better to use American economic power up front to stabilize a friendly government and lead the way,\u201d he added. \u201cBecause we\u2019ve got many other governments in Latin America, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, who all want to follow. So I would rather extend a swap line than be shooting at the boats carrying drugs \u2026 coming out of Venezuela.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had sharply contrasting views of longtime U.S. ally Canada, which is a top target…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":335565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2841,2147,50,4053,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-335564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-argentina","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-tariffs-and-trade","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115445001297263797","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}