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Ex-FTC Commissioner Slams Trump Treasury Secretary, “Enough With the Bailouts”

by in Daily Edition | September 29, 2025 3 min read

Rohia Chopra

Rohit Chopra Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Former Commissioner of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Rohit Chopra shared a photo of President Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reading a message on his phone. Note: Chopra said the photo was “snapped [by] Angelina Katsanis for the @AP during the UN’s General Assembly meeting.”

Chopra added: “This photo shows the Treasury Secretary reading a text from the Agriculture Secretary. She’s worried China has outmaneuvered the US by buying up Argentine soybeans at the expense of our farmers, even as the Administration plans to bail out Argentina with billions of dollars.”

Note: China has retaliated against Trump’s tariffs by halting all purchases of U.S. soybeans and instead buying a large share of soybeans from Argentina. American soybean farmers, who used to sell 25 percent of their soybeans to China, have called the situation “a five-alarm fire.”

At the same time, Bessent has said the U.S. is prepared to provide Argentina with a $20 billion financial lifeline, triggering Chopra’s comments.

Chopra added “enough with the bailouts” and suggested that Bessent should: “(1) Immediately hit pause on this inappropriate bailout of Argentina that is further harming American farmers (2) Affix a privacy screen to his iPhone, available online and in stores for roughly $10.”

Note: Journalist Judd Legum of Popular Information characterized the $20 billion taxpayer-funded rescue package for Argentina as “a gift” for billionaire hedge fund manager Rob Citrone (co-founder of Discovery Capital Management), “who placed large bets on the Argentine economy.” Legum’s reporting described Citrone as “a friend and former colleague of Bessent, who helped make Bessent very wealthy.”

The Argentina aid appears to cut against the grain — and against the regular modus operandi — for the Trump administration, which campaigned on an “America First” agenda that promised to dramatically scale back aid for foreign nations.

Even Republicans who strongly support Trump have noted that the Argentina move, coupled with the tariff impact, feels like a one-two gut punch, with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) — the president pro tempore of the United States Senate — posting on social media: “Farmers VERY upset abt Argentina selling soybeans to China right after USA bail out … farmers need markets 2 boost farm economy.”

Grassley later asked: “Why would USA help bail out Argentina while they take American soybean producers’ biggest market???”