President Donald Trump meets with Argentine President Javier Milei during the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Trump says he doesn’t think Argentina needs a bailout, but US will help
WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 President Donald Trump stopped short Tuesday of promising Argentina’s President Javier Milei a financial bailout from the Latin American country’s economic turmoil.
President Donald Trump meets with Argentine President Javier Milei during the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
By Fatima Hussein, Almudena Calatrava And Debora Rey The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 President Donald Trump stopped short Tuesday of promising Argentina’s President Javier Milei a financial bailout from the Latin American country’s economic turmoil.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to help them. I don鈥檛 think they need a bailout,鈥 Trump told reporters. He sat alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Milei on Tuesday afternoon on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
鈥淪cott is working with their country so that they can get good debt and all of the things that you need to make Argentina great again,” he said.
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Bessent posted on X Monday that 鈥渁ll options for stabilization are on the table鈥 for Argentina.
Options being contemplated include the purchase of Argentina鈥檚 currency or sovereign debt by a fund controlled by the U.S. Treasury, called the Exchange Stabilization Fund, Bessent said. Argentina is one of the biggest Latin American economies and the biggest borrower from the International Monetary Fund 鈥 its total outstanding credit as of Aug. 31 is .
The offer to financially help Argentina comes as Trump has frequently promoted his agenda. Critics contend that the planned intervention is a way to reward a personal friend of Trump鈥檚 who is facing a critical midterm election next month.
鈥淎t a time when Americans are struggling to afford groceries, rent, credit card bills, and other debt payments,鈥 said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., 鈥渋t is deeply troubling that the President intends to use significant emergency funds to inflate the value of a foreign government鈥檚 currency and bolster its financial markets.鈥
She called any planned U.S. intervention in Argentina鈥檚 economy a bailout. 鈥淚 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.鈥
Miliei’s Argentina is weighed down by political and economic adversity, including fears that the country’s current stagnation could turn into a recession and that the devaluation of the peso, caused by the soaring dollar, could reignite prices, among other problems.
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The setbacks have revealed an erosion of Milei鈥檚 support among broad sectors who, despite the drop in inflation, feel their economic situation has worsened in the context of an austerity plan unlike anything Argentina has ever seen.
