American banks want assurances that the bailout will work before coughing up an additional $20 billion. Washington takes advantage of the fact that it is releasing money to interfere in Argentina’s midterm elections, with the idea that Milei, the far-right President, remains in power. But within the United States, the dance of millions for Argentina raises doubts. And criticism.
Mexico City, October 21 (However).– “As a prominent investor of the liberal philanthropist George Sorosin the 1990s, Scott Bessant caused a sensation with a $10 billion bet that sterling was overvalued. This bet contributed to bankrupting the Bank of England with devastating operations against the pound. In 2013, Bessent obtained a billion dollars for the fund Soros with a gigantic bet against the Japanese yen. And now, in an unconventional move with few precedents, Bessent is putting his credibility at stake as Secretary of the Treasury of the President Donald Trump —and billions of taxpayer dollars—in another type of monetary bet,” he says today The New York Times.
The text is called: “USA “He plays with taxpayers’ money in a big Argentine bet.”
The Argentine currency has fallen 30 percent against the dollar this year despite all the support from Washington, and depreciated further on Monday as Argentines anticipated economic instability ahead of the midterm elections, which are next Sunday. Trump has made aid conditional on the far-right in power winning the elections.
Bessent, a former hedge fund manager, is orchestrating a $20 billion bailout to shore up the Argentine peso, which has been depreciating in value. The objective of the support is to support the Argentine economy and its President, Javier Milei. On Friday, Bessent said the Treasury Department had intervened at least a second time to buy pesos.
“The Treasury remains in close communication with the Argentine economic team as they work to make Argentina great again,” he wrote on social networks. “The Treasury is monitoring all markets and we have the ability to act with flexibility and forcefulness to stabilize Argentina.”
On the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank this week, Bessent toyed with the idea of an additional $20 billion in financing for the beleaguered country, he adds. The New York Timesin addition to an injection of 20 billion dollars in the form of a swap (or exchange) currencies with your central bank. “At the center of his bet is the undervaluation of the Argentine currency – an indebted country whose economy has required more than 20 bailouts -. If he is right, the United States could profit by acquiring pesos that will eventually be worth more and obtaining access on favorable conditions to Argentine natural resources. If he is wrong, the United States could end up subsidizing another failed bailout for a country that has defaulted on its payments nine times,” the newspaper adds.
It is very unusual for the United States to intervene directly in the economy of another country, the outlet states. Although it rescued Mexico in 1995, it historically involves other nations or institutions such as the IMF to share the burden of risk. The thing is that the rescue raises many, many doubts. So much so that the bankers are rethinking over and over again whether they will enter him and what guarantees they have of not going bankrupt along with Javier Milei.
President Donald J. Trump and President of Argentina Javier Milei @JMilei. 🇺🇸🤝🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/YAz1d57jkC
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 14, 2025
But now it’s about more than just the bailout. Trump wants La Libertad Avanza, Milei’s political force, to win Argentina’s midterm elections.
“President Milei’s efforts to reverse his country’s decades of decline, stemming from the radical leftism of Peronism, are crucial. Argentina now has the opportunity to achieve economic freedom, and our stabilization agreement is a bridge to a better economic future for Argentina, not a bailout. Milei has worked to reverse previous irresponsible economic policies, such as excessive spending, fiscal irresponsibility and debt reckless Just this month, the IMF reiterated its full support for Argentina’s strong economic program. We do not want another failed state in Latin America, and a strong, stable Argentina as a good neighbor is explicitly in the strategic interest of the United States. President Trump is leading the way in the Western Hemisphere and our Administration supports President Milei’s ongoing reform plans and his prudent fiscal strategy to return Argentina to be great,” Bessent said in a tweet this Tuesday.
Complicated panorama
U.S. banks have not made loans to Argentina, and the country has been excluded from international capital markets for years. Successive governments have borrowed in dollars or printed money rather than cutting spending to reduce chronic budget deficits that caused runaway inflation. Latin America’s third largest economy has defaulted on its sovereign debt nine times, three of them since 2000.
The Wall Street Journal says today that a group of banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, are struggling to secure a $20 billion loan for Argentina without leaving themselves too exposed.
The text is called: “US banks seek guarantees to support Argentina’s $20 billion bailout.”
Sources familiar with the matter tell the newspaper that the bank loans would be part of the Trump Administration’s plan to support the finances of the government of libertarian President Milei with a $40 billion package, including a swap of USD 20 billion with the US Treasury Department and a separate USD 20 billion credit line led by the banks.
“The group of banks, which also includes Citigroup, is looking for some type of guarantee or commitment to ensure the recovery of their money, according to the sources. The bankers are waiting for guidance from the Treasury Department on what guarantees Argentina could provide them or if Washington plans to support the facility on its own,” it says. The Wall Street Journal citing his own sources. “While banks typically manage these types of bailout mechanisms on their own, the Treasury has controlled the broader package and the banks feel they cannot act without support from Washington. The loan mechanism has not yet been finalized and may not come to fruition if the issue of bank guarantees is not resolved, they noted.”
A Treasury spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that “discussions about this facility continue and we look forward to sharing more details when the talks conclude.”
To fill this gap, the Argentine government has received more than 20 bailouts from the International Monetary Fund since the 1950s, including a mechanism agreed to earlier this year. However, these aid packages have failed to prevent recurring financial market collapses, bank runs, and devastating devaluations that have sparked political and social unrest.
By law, the swap does not require Argentina to provide guarantees, and the value of the pesos is assumed to be almost equal to the Treasury’s investment. However, the peso is steadily depreciating and could depreciate further if the IMF forces the Government to allow the peso to float freely and its price to be determined by market forces. In the past, countries such as Mexico have committed other assets to ensure the protection of US taxpayers in similar transactions, the newspaper recalls. It refers to income from Pemex, which Ernesto Zedillo pledged to the United States.