US Treasury secretary to meet with Argentina's Milei on Monday

By Susan Heavey and David Lawder

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will meet with Argentina President Javier Milei and other government and business leaders in Buenos Aires next week to show support for the country's economic reforms, the Treasury Department said on Thursday.

"I look forward to our positive discussions about Argentina’s economy, and to exploring the ways our nations can further deepen our vital economic relationship," Bessent said in a statement.

Bessent's first foreign trip since taking office will come on Monday, after the International Monetary Fund's Executive Board expected approval on Friday of a new $20 billion loan for Argentina. Milei's government is pushing for the IMF to disburse about 40% of the funds up-front.

The IMF deal is key to Argentina digging itself out of its worst economic crisis in decades. South America's second-largest economy is emerging from triple-digit inflation, a recession and a dangerous slide in foreign currency reserves that remain in the red on a net basis.

As Treasury secretary, Bessent manages the dominant U.S. shareholding in the IMF and the World Bank, which are due to hold their spring meeting in Washington the week of April 21.

Milei, whose right-wing politics are closely aligned with Donald Trump's, was an early foreign visitor to the president's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after the U.S. election in November. He also attended Trump's inauguration.

Claw Lowery, executive vice president of the Institute of International Finance, said the trip was likely intended to bolster Milei, who was generating positive results by cutting back government - a key goal of Trump's.

"The Argentines are showing that you can do these things and your economic fortunes could actually start to improve," said Lowery, a former senior Treasury official.

Milei gave his trademark chainsaw to Elon Musk, the billionaire who has been tasked with cutting U.S. government spending, at a conference near Washington in February.

The Treasury's announcement lauded Milei's economic policies, saying he "has brought Argentina back from economic oblivion."

The statement said that Bessent would reiterate firm U.S. backing for the continued implementation of Milei's economic reform agenda and encourage other countries to support it.

Bessent emerged with a leading role in articulating Trump's trade policies and has been tasked with negotiating trade deals with other countries. Argentina, which had a $2.1 billion trade deficit with the United States in 2021, was hit with only the "baseline" 10% U.S. import duty in Trump's latest round of global tariffs.

The country's situation was not affected by Trump's 90-day pause on higher duty rates on Wednesday.