US President Donald Trump greeted Argentina’s leader Javier Milei at the White House on Tuesday with a pointed gesture and a firm tone, signaling not just diplomatic courtesy but an ideological alliance that now carries a heavy financial price tag.
Despite the ongoing shutdown of the US government and fierce debate over federal spending, Trump showed no hesitation in defending a massive $20 billion financial package destined for Argentina. Sitting across from Milei during a working lunch, Trump openly framed the deal not as a bailout, but as protection for an ally whose political future he considers crucial.
Trump made his condition crystal clear: Washington’s economic support depends entirely on Milei staying in power.
“If he wins, we stay with him,” Trump said in the Cabinet Room. “If he doesn’t win, we’re gone. Simple as that.”
Milei—an eccentric libertarian economist known for his wild haircut, rock-band past, and a pack of English mastiff dogs he calls his “spiritual advisors”—has become one of Trump’s strongest international admirers. He has copied both Trump’s combative rhetoric and his populist slogans.
“He’s MAGA all the way—Make Argentina Great Again,” Trump declared.
This close relationship has paid off enormously for Milei. Trump admitted that no other Argentine government would have received such US financial aid.
“If he loses, we won’t be generous with Argentina,” Trump said bluntly.
The partnership is not only political—but also strategic. Argentina holds some of the world’s largest reserves of lithium and copper, resources vital to US manufacturing. Washington sees Milei’s government as a shield against growing Chinese influence in South America. Still, frictions persist—especially after a recent clash involving Argentine soybean sales to China.
Since taking office in 2023, Milei has carried out a brutal economic shock plan—firing tens of thousands of public employees, slashing subsidies, and deregulating markets. Inflation has slowed, but poverty remains high and social unrest is brewing.
Markets panicked last month after Milei’s party suffered major electoral losses, sending the Argentine peso tumbling and raising fears of economic collapse. Those events pushed Trump’s team to step in with a controversial $20 billion rescue, structured as a currency swap with Argentina’s central bank—functionally a massive loan.
But the decision has sparked outrage in Washington.
Critics on both sides of the aisle argue that Trump is using taxpayer money to reward a foreign political ally while Americans struggle with inflation and unpaid federal wages during the shutdown.
In Buenos Aires, protesters plastered posters of Milei and Trump with the words “No More Debt and Surrender.”
Even within Trump’s own Cabinet, internal debate has surfaced. Leaked messages from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed tensions with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on how to justify the rescue package.
Bessent defended the strategy:
“It’s better to build an economic bridge with allies than deal with narco boats with machine guns,” he said, referencing US operations near Venezuela.
Democrats expressed concern as well.
“The American people deserve answers about the use of such a staggering amount of taxpayer dollars,” said Senator Jeanne Shaheen, ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The political blowback intensified when China halted soybean purchases from US farmers in response to Trump’s trade war—while simultaneously buying millions of dollars of soy from Argentina.
“Why help Argentina while they steal our biggest agricultural market?” asked Republican Senator Chuck Grassley from Iowa.
Trump dismissed concerns, calling China’s actions “predictable,” but moments later escalated tensions dramatically, threatening on Truth Social:
“We are considering ending business with China involving Cooking Oil and other trade products as retaliation.”