Donald Trump is offering a $20bn currency swap to bail out Argentina’s president, Javier Milei. Harriet Barber reports
He’s the dog-cloning, chainsaw-wielding libertarian president of Argentina who was the darling of the Maga world with his promise to wrestle his country’s economy into shape by slashing waste and pushing down inflation. But Javier Milei has been facing a currency crisis, and discontent at how his policies have hurt the poorest, and midterm elections are looming. Things were looking bleak before an unexpected offer from Donald Trump: a $20bn currency swap.
Putting aside his ‘America first’ attitude, Trump promised to go through with the deal – as long as Argentina votes for Milei in the midterms. Annie Kelly speaks to the journalist Harriet Barber about what life is like in the country after Milei’s huge cuts to spending, and to the Argentinian economist Miguel Kegel about what the currency swap means for the country.