Argentina’s President Javier Milei has instituted brutal austerity measures that have failed to save the country’s economy. But the far-right leader may soon get a bailout from his wealthy American buddies. And it seems unlikely that President Donald Trump and his goons will trot out the chainsaws for this one. They’re not cutting this time. They’re throwing Milei a life preserver.
The Trump regime first signaled on Monday during the president’s appearance at the United Nations that it would lend a hand to Milei’s floundering economy. And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained Wednesday that help was on the way.
“The Treasury is currently in negotiations with Argentine officials for a $20 billion swap line with the Central Bank. We are working in close coordination with the Argentine government to prevent excessive volatility,” Bessent tweeted Wednesday.
“In addition, the United States stands ready to purchase secondary or primary government debt and we are working with the Argentine government to end the tax holiday for commodity producers converting foreign exchange,” Bessent continued.
As Barron’s explains, the $20 billion swaps that Bessent is referring to would give Argentina access to U.S. dollars, and the Treasury Secretary took the “extraordinary step” of making future support conditional on how the future election goes. Argentina has midterm elections on October 26, and half of the lower house and a third of the senate will be decided.
“I have also been in touch with numerous US companies who intend to make substantial foreign direct investments in Argentina multiple sectors in the event of a positive election outcome,” Bessent wrote.
Bessent didn’t explicitly say what a “positive” election outcome would look like in his tweet, but it’s pretty obvious that he means allies of Milei having a good showing. Bessent made it clearer when he appeared on Fox Business on Wednesday morning.
“The plan is, as long as President Milei continues with his strong economic policies, to help him… to bridge him to the election—you know, I call this the screens moving to the streets—we are not going to let a disequilibrium in the market cause a backup in his substantial economic reforms,” Bessent told Maria Bartiromo.
“I don’t think the market has lost confidence in him,” Bessent continued. “I think the market is looking in the rearview mirror and is looking at decades, if not a century, of terrible Argentinian mismanagement and people are concerned, people are skittish.”
Bessent went on to acknowledge that it’s hard for people to believe “it’s different this time,” with Milei’s reforms, but he insisted “it is.”
Bessent on Argentina: “The plan is as long as President Milei continues with his strong economic policies to help him, to bridge him to the election, we are not going to let a disequilibrium in the market cause a backup in his substantial economic reforms.”
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– Aaron Rupar (@Atrupar.com) September 24, 2025 at 7:37 AM
Two years ago, the people of Argentina were ready to give Milei a chance, as nothing seemed to be pulling the country back from crippling inflation. But, by all accounts, the far-right leader’s brutal policies have simply gutted the government while harming the poor.
Milei’s Freedom Advances party lost a local election earlier this month in Buenos Aires province, receiving just 34% of the vote compared to 47% for his left-wing opponents. And the economy was a central reason. About 60% of Argentines feel the economy is worse now than it was last year, according to local polling referenced in the Wall Street Journal.
Milei is probably best known to Americans as the weirdo leader with gigantic sideburns who always seems to be carrying around a chainsaw.
He’s the one who handed Elon Musk a chainsaw onstage at CPAC back in February during that infamous appearance by the billionaire, where he appeared out of his mind. The idea was that Musk would take Milei’s libertarian approach to a new level with DOGE.
Milei has also posed for photos with his chainsaw next to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of HHS. And Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, even got his own turn with Milei’s chainsaw at CPAC, though the kooky president was nowhere to be seen. Whichever staffer was next to Cruz didn’t seem to be impressed, as you can see in the photo below.
Trump tweeted his support for Milei on Tuesday, though he seemed a little confused about the specifics.
Trump wrote that Milei was “advancing on all levels at record speed,” blamed Argentina’s inflation on a leftist president before comparing the situation to his own with Joe Biden, and insisted that Milei “has brought stability back to Argentina’s Economy, and lifted it to a new level of Prominence and Respect!”
Trump also said Milei had his “complete and total endorsement for re-election as president,” though Milei is not up for re-election in October. The U.S. president reportedly met with Milei on the sidelines of the UN on Monday, even though traditional allies got snubbed. The leaders of Australia and New Zealand, two countries in the Five Eyes spying alliance that are seen as crucial to countering China’s influence in the South Pacific, did not get a meeting with Trump.
It’s unclear whether Trump’s intervention in Argentina will help stabilize the economy long enough for Milei to continue his experiment with libertarian economics. But they’re certainly going to try.
