US buys Argentine pesos, finalizes $20B currency swap

The United States directly purchased Argentine pesos on Thursday and finalized a $20 billion currency swap line with Argentina’s central bank, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant said in a social media post, a rare move aimed at stabilizing turbulent financial markets in the cash-strapped Latin American ally.

“U.S. Treasury is prepared, immediately, to take whatever exceptional measures are warranted to provide stability to markets,” Bessent said, adding that the Treasury Department held four days of meetings with Argentine Economy Minister Luis Caputo in Washington, D.C. to cement the deal.

Bessent, under fire from U.S. farmers and Democratic lawmakers, has insisted that the credit swap is not a bailout. Farmers are angry about the idea of rescuing Argentina, whose own farmers have benefited from a recent gush of sales of soybeans to China at the expense of their U.S. counterparts. Lawmakers have pushed Trump to explain how this financial help aligns with his “America First” agenda.

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