Buenos Aires Herald 
United States President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, said that the U.S. wants Argentina to end its currency swap with China.
“Obviously Argentina is an allied country. President Milei is an ally,” Claver-Carone said. “The secretary of state was with the Argentine foreign minister recently and at the end of the day, we’re always looking at how to work together bilaterally for good.”
“We want Milei to be successful. We understand, first of all, the enormous sacrifice he has brought about with all the fiscal reforms. I think it’s admirable in the world, and it’s something we’re really doing here in the United States.”
He then warned of China’s influence on Argentina, stating: “A topic that does worry us in Argentina is still, obviously, the role of China and the Chinese, a problem that President Milei inherited.”
“I’m not going to meddle in the middle of the negotiations that [Argentina] is carrying out with the IMF because we want them to be successful, but what we do eventually want is for the famous credit line Argentina has with China to come to an end.”
He made the comments during a conference on the United States’s strategy on Latin America at Miami Dade College.
“We want to be sure that any potential agreements with the IMF do not end up prolonging that credit line or swap that they have with China.”
“While they have that credit line, China will always be able to extort [them]. So for us, the goal with the Fund program would be to ensure it doesn’t strengthen China’s position with that credit line. That’s our priority.”
This position, he said, reflects both geopolitical matters and a desire for Milei’s administration to be successful.
Claver-Carone said that the U.S. was interested in a potential commercial agreement with Argentina, but appeared to rule out a free trade agreement, something Milei had previously said he would seek. “At the end of the day, as we saw yesterday, free trade does not exist in that sense,” he said.
Before assuming his current role, Claver-Carone was the president of the Inter-American Development Bank, a Latin America advisor during Trump’s first presidency, and a U.S. representative to the IMF.