United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during an interview Thursday morning that the United States is planning to give Argentina a currency swap, but not plow money into the country.

In an interview with CNBC news channel on Thursday morning, he said: “As far as what the US is doing, just to be clear, we are giving them a swap line, we are not putting money into Argentina.”

Last week, Bessent announced online that the US was “ready” to purchase Argentine bonds, “prepared to deliver significant stand-by credit” through the Exchange Stabilization Fund, and was negotiating a US$20 billion swap line. The move was widely interpreted as a bailout. No funds have been disbursed at the time of writing.

In Argentina, the peso briefly strengthened and country risk declined after his announcement, but the opposition called on the deal to be sent to Congress and asked what conditions were attached. 

At home, Bessent faced criticism from both supporters, who felt that making such a large deal to a foreign government betrayed the Donald Trump administration’s self-described “America First” policy, and from Democrats, who signalled the administration’s cuts to acute crisis relief efforts and other life-saving assistance through organizations such as USAID. The Treasury Secretary’s comments appear designed to highlight the difference between a credit line and traditional aid spending.

Milei’s Argentina ‘a beacon’

Bessent blamed the Obama administration for what he described as a missed opportunity to get South American governments onside, before continuing that “Argentina is a beacon down there and there’s the chance for many other countries to come along, Bolivia, Ecuador, after the elections. So what you don’t want are these failed economic models, and Argentina has 100 years of decline and President Milei is working against history and has done a fantastic job. I am sure that when we see the elections this month his party is going to do well.”

Bessent also wrote on X on Thursday morning that he is planning to meet with Argentine Economy Minister Luis Caputo and his team in Washington, D.C. in the coming days to “meaningfully advance our discussions in-person regarding options for delivering financial support.” He added that the two had shared a “very positive” phone call on Wednesday.

He said that he had “emphasized the importance of the success of President Milei’s economic policies for the people of Argentina, for the region, and for the G7” to his fellow finance ministers in the G7 bloc, which groups the world’s most powerful economies, on Wednesday.

“The @USTreasury is fully prepared to do what is necessary, and we will continue to watch developments closely.”

Argentine bonds rallied briefly after Bessent’s X post, only to fall again after the interview.

During the CNBC interview, Bessent said supporting Argentina favored U.S. interests in the region. “What we’re doing is maintaining a US strategic interest in the Western Hemisphere,” he told interviewers. “America First doesn’t mean America Alone. When you have a failed state in South America like Venezuela, now we are having to track down and blow up these cartel ships, so you don’t wanna create another failed state.”

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The United States has blown up boats off the coast of Venezuela in recent weeks in what it says are strikes on cartel ships. Venezuelan leaders have denied the boats were carrying gang members or drug traffickers, while one woman told the New York Times her husband was a fisherman killed in the strikes.

Argentine President Javier Milei is due to travel to the White House and meet with Trump on October 14, following the pair’s meeting during the United Nations General Assembly.