President Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that “all options” were on the table for the U.S. to stabilize Argentina’s financial markets, including tapping the $219 billion Exchange Stabilization Fund to buy pesos or Argentine dollar-denominated debt.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, responded by amplifying the Financial Times article ‘Trump administration offers financial lifeline to Argentina’s Javier Milei’.
Warren wrote: “First, Trump made us pay higher coffee and beef prices to support a convicted coup-plotter in Brazil. Now, he wants American taxpayers to bail out his friend Milei in Argentina. Trump should stop raising prices for Americans and giving away our money to his corrupt buddies.”
First, Trump made us pay higher coffee and beef prices to support a convicted coup-plotter in Brazil.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) September 22, 2025
Now, he wants American taxpayers to bail out his friend Milei in Argentina.
Trump should stop raising prices for Americans and giving away our money to his corrupt buddies. https://t.co/Cb48DpIOwv
Bessent responded to Warren’s criticism on X by writing: “Few should be surprised by @SenWarren’s self-pitying rendition of ‘Don’t Cry for Me Massachusetts.’ The destructive economic policies she has championed since joining the Senate in 2013 rival the failed leftist agenda of the Argentine opposition.”
Note: Warren also wrote a public letter to Bessent voicing her concerns. The Senator asserted: “President Trump’s close personal relationship with President Milei, and the timing of this bailout ahead of a critical October 26 midterm election in Argentina, raise serious concerns that the purpose of this bailout is personal and political – and comes at the expense of the American people.”
Warren added: “I understand why President Milei, careening from crisis to crisis and unable to effectively manage the Argentinian economy, wants the American people to finance a bailout. I do not understand why it is in the interest of the United States to provide one, nor how one would be designed to ensure the best outcomes for the Argentinian people, instead of hedge fund investors.”
Bessent replied: “As for her comments elsewhere on hedge funds, the Senator is invited to join @USTreasury’s financial literacy program. Hedge funds that attacked Argentine assets over the past few months undoubtedly sustained large losses yesterday. Long-term mutual funds and pension funds that invest on behalf of working Americans benefitted.”
Warren, who was Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury during the Obama administration, replied to Bessent: “Guess ‘America First’ is a joke. Nowhere in this long essay did you answer my questions about why President Trump is bailing out Argentina’s global investors using American taxpayer dollars.”
Guess "America First" is a joke. Nowhere in this long essay did you answer my questions about why President Trump is bailing out Argentina's global investors using American taxpayer dollars. https://t.co/aOXnwZZW0h
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) September 23, 2025
Today, outside the United Nations, President Trump told reporters: “Scott is working with their country so that they can get good debt and all of the things that you need to make Argentina great again. He added: “We are giving the president of Argentina our full backing and endorsement.”
