Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States will work to help Argentina as it suffers from a market selloff.
Bessent announced Monday that President Donald Trump will meet with Argentine President Javier Milei on Tuesday in New York to discuss the situation. He said the U.S. ally in Latin America is a “systemically important” one and that all options for stabilization are on the table.
“These options may include, but are not limited to, swap lines, direct currency purchases, and purchases of U.S. dollar-denominated government debt from Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund,” Bessent said in a social media post. “Opportunities for private investment remain expansive, and Argentina will be Great Again.”
“We remain confident that President [Milei]’s support for fiscal discipline and pro-growth reforms are necessary to break Argentina’s long history of decline,” he added.
Milei got outsize attention for sweeping into office promising libertarian reforms. He followed through on that mandate and drastically cut government spending, removed rent controls, and began privatizing state-run entities. But in recent months, markets in Argentina have been flagging, drawing concerns about the state of the Argentine economy.
The Mercado de Valores de Buenos Aires Index, or MERVAL, is a benchmark stock index for the country. The MERVAL rose more than 5% on Monday in response to the news that the U.S. would help out.
But the MERVAL has fallen more than 16% in the past month alone, is down 27% over the past six months, and has dropped 30% since the start of the year.
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Additionally, the central bank in Argentina sold $1.1 billion last week in order to shore up the Argentine peso.
In April, the International Monetary Fund reached a $20 billion bailout deal with Argentina that would span four years. Any future U.S. support agreed to between Trump and Milei would be in addition to that IMF assistance.