Warren Presses Treasury Secretary Bessent on Trump’s Argentina Bailout
“President Trump’s close personal relationship with President Milei, and the timing of this bailout ahead of a critical October 26 midterm election in Argentina, raise serious concerns that the purpose of this bailout is personal and political – and comes at the expense of the American people.”
Washington, DC – United States Senator Elizabeth Warren, Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, pressed Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent for details on President Donald Trump’s plan to bail out Argentina’s financial markets and hedge fund investors using America’s resources. President Javier Milei is a close personal friend of President Trump and an ideological ally of the Administration. He is facing a critical midterm election on October 26th – raising concerns that this bailout is personal and political, while coming at the expense of the American people.
“At a time when Americans are struggling to afford groceries, rent, credit card bills, and other debt payments…it is deeply troubling that the President intends to use significant emergency funds to inflate the value of a foreign government’s currency and bolster its financial markets,” wrote Senator Warren.
Foreign investors appear to be losing confidence in Argentina due to ongoing corruption scandals and waning public support for Milei’s regime. Argentina’s ongoing financial turmoil threatens President Milei’s party’s electoral prospects, especially given recent defeats at the local level. Yesterday, Secretary Bessent announced that Argentina is a “systemically important U.S. ally in Latin America” without any economic justification as to why a sell-off of the Argentine peso and distress in the country’s financial markets pose a direct threat to the health of the American economy. Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund is supposed to be used judiciously and in America’s national interest.
“I understand why President Milei, careening from crisis to crisis and unable to effectively manage the Argentinian economy, wants the American people to finance a bailout. I do not understand why it is in the interest of the United States to provide one, nor how one would be designed to ensure the best outcomes for the Argentinian people, instead of hedge fund investors,” wrote Senator Warren.
Warren pressed Secretary Bessent for answers on why U.S. taxpayers may be asked to bail out Argentina’s financial markets, the scale and conditionality of the U.S. financial support, and the cost to American taxpayers.
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