The Trump administration is trying to leverage its planned bailout of Argentina to get the nation to sever its ties with China, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The U.S. is preparing a bailout for Argentina to the tune of $40 billion, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is leaning heavily on the nation to cut its economic ties with China in exchange for the generous payout, people familiar with the conversations told the WSJ. Argentina trades heavily with Beijing, with over $2 billion worth of goods exchanged in August of this year alone, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity.
“Stabilizing Argentina is ‘America First,’” a Treasury Department spokesman told the WSJ. “A strong, stable Argentina helps anchor a prosperous Western Hemisphere, which is explicitly in the strategic interest of the United States.”
Specifically, Bessent raised concerns with Argentine Economic Minister Luis Caputo about China’s access to critical minerals, according to the WSJ. The two also reportedly discussed U.S. access to the nation’s rich Uranium deposits.
According to the WSJ’s sources, Treasury officials told Argentinian officials that they want the U.S. to be the nation’s primary provider of telecom and internet services instead of companies tied to China. Local industry giant Telecom Argentina most recently receiving a $74 million loan from the Bank of China in one recent example of the massive Chinese presence in those sectors.
“President [Milei] is trying to break 100 years of bad cycles in Argentina,” Besssent said on X Oct. 10. “He is a great ally of the U.S. and we look forward to his Oval Office visit next week. We do not want another failed or China-led state in Latin America. Stabilizing Argentina is America First.”
Milei’s government has faced significant hurdles in its mission to liberalize the nation’s economy amid runaway inflation and wasteful government programs. However, with mounting debt payments and nothing left in the nation’s coffers, Milei turned to the U.S. for aid.
The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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