Overview

• U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated the assistance package is not conditioned on terminating Argentina’s currency swap with China.
• Bessent confirmed U.S. purchases of pesos and discussions of a roughly $20 billion currency-swap arrangement with Argentina’s central bank, while offering no technical details.
• Clarifying a prior Fox News remark, Bessent said U.S. objections focus on Chinese ports, military bases and observation centers in Argentina rather than financial links.
• Trump signaled U.S. support depends on Milei prevailing in upcoming elections, describing the backing as tied to shared ideology.
• Argentina frames the prospective swap as a liquidity backstop to ensure debt payments, with Economy Minister Luis Caputo citing a potential $4.2 billion draw for January obligations and analysts flagging 2025 foreign-currency maturities near $18.2 billion.