Milei to meet Trump as Argentina seeks to avert market rout

Maya Averbuch, Bloomberg News on Sep 20, 2025

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Argentine leader Javier Milei announced plans to meet President Donald Trump in New York on Tuesday after hinting his country is in negotiations to halt a market selloff and avoid a debt crisis.

The meeting with the U.S. president will reflect “the solid bilateral relationship” between the two countries and a shared commitment to deepening strategic ties, the presidential office in Buenos Aires said in a statement. The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Argentina is seeking to stay on track to meet about $9.5 billion in debt payments due next year and halt a slide in the peso, pouring $1.1 billion into the currency market over three days this week to prevent a devaluation that would derail the president’s stabilization plan.

Asked on Friday whether he expects help from the U.S. Treasury, Milei said Argentina has been working on strategies to ensure it can meet debt payments next year.

“Those negotiations take time and and we don’t make announcements until it’s confirmed,” Milei said in a television interview, without mentioning the Treasury Department. “But we are working very hard, we’re very advanced, and it’s a matter of time too.”

After visiting Argentina in April, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a private gathering of investors that the U.S. could consider tapping its Exchange Stabilization Fund to support its South American ally. The Treasury hasn’t publicly commented on the idea since.

Investors have been pulling money out of South America’s second-largest economy at an increasing pace since Milei — a staunch Trump ally — was handed a local election defeat on Sept. 7, raising the stakes for midterm congressional races in October. A further defeat could squander a chance for Milei to win enough support in Congress to push through his plans.

A scandal involving the president’s inner circle and drastic spending cuts have depressed Milei’s approval ratings, even as his government presided over a drop in inflation to 34% from a peak of 289% last year.

The rout in Argentine assets has prompted government intervention to keep the peso within a trading band it set as part of a $20 billion loan the country got from the International Monetary Fund this year.

Milei and his economy minister, Luis Caputo, will meet IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Monday in New York, according to an itinerary provided by Milei’s spokesman.

Trump and Milei will be in the city to address the United Nations General Assembly. Trump will speak on Tuesday and Milei on Wednesday.

Milei met Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort ahead of a conservative summit in November, soon after Trump won the U.S. election. He has made more trips to the U.S. since, reinforcing his support for the U.S. president and touting himself as a political ally.