Argentine leader Javier Milei has announced intentions to meet President Donald Trump in New York on Tuesday, following indications that his country is engaged in negotiations aimed at curbing a market sell-off and preventing a debt crisis. The presidential office in Buenos Aires stated that the meeting with the US president will reflect “the solid bilateral relationship” between the two countries and a shared commitment to deepening strategic ties. The White House did not provide a response to a request for comment.
Argentina is striving to maintain its course to fulfill approximately US$9.5 billion in debt obligations due next year while attempting to arrest the decline of the peso. This week, the government has injected US$1.1 billion into the currency market over a span of three days to avert a devaluation that could undermine the President’s stabilization strategy. In response to a query on Friday regarding the anticipated assistance from the US Treasury, Milei indicated that Argentina is actively developing strategies to guarantee its ability to fulfill debt obligations in the coming year. “Those negotiations take time and we don’t make announcements until it’s confirmed,” Milei stated during a television interview, refraining from referencing the US Treasury Department. “However, we are exerting considerable effort, we are quite advanced, and it is also a matter of time.”
Following his visit to Argentina in April, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent informed a select group of investors that the United States might contemplate utilizing its Exchange Stabilization Fund to bolster its South American partner. The Treasury has refrained from making any public statements regarding the idea since then. Investors have been withdrawing capital from South America’s second-largest economy at an accelerating rate since Milei – a firm ally of Trump – experienced a local election defeat on September 7, heightening the stakes for the midterm congressional races in October. A subsequent defeat could jeopardize Milei’s opportunity to garner sufficient backing in Congress to advance his agenda. A scandal involving the president’s inner circle and significant spending cuts have led to a decline in Milei’s approval ratings, despite his administration overseeing a reduction in inflation from a peak of 289 percent to 34 percent last year. The decline in Argentine assets has necessitated government intervention to maintain the peso within a trading band established as part of a US$20-billion loan received from the International Monetary Fund this year.
Milei and his economy minister, Luis Caputo, are scheduled to meet with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Monday in New York, as indicated by an itinerary shared by Milei’s spokesman. Trump and Milei are set to convene in the city to deliver remarks at the United Nations General Assembly. On Tuesday, Trump is scheduled to deliver remarks, followed by Milei on Wednesday. Milei convened with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in anticipation of a conservative summit scheduled for November, shortly following Trump’s victory in the US election. He has undertaken additional visits to the US since then, thereby reinforcing his backing for the US president and presenting himself as a political ally.