In the midst of rising inflation, widespread layoffs, and the devastating government shutdown, the Trump Administration has chosen to spend $20 billion dollars to bail out … Javier Milei, President of Argentina. This proves yet again that far from “Making America Great Again,” Trump puts US corporations and their henchmen first.

The crisis of Argentine capitalism

Milei rose to prominence for similar reasons as other right populists around the world, including Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, and Nigel Farage. The establishment capitalist parties in Argentina presided over decades of spiraling debt, collapsing living standards, and corruption. This bred a rejection of the status quo, and in the absence of a credible mass revolutionary party, Milei’s “anarcho-capitalist” politics attracted support from many fed-up Argentinians.

Unsurprisingly, the libertarian president delivered an economic catastrophe. Since Milei’s assumption of power, unemployment has soared, while the poverty rate stands at more than 30%. The ever-present threat of a government debt default, banking crisis, and explosive run on the national currency looms over the country.

Milei’s goal is to satisfy Argentina’s imperialist debt holders—including private creditors like Pimco and Blackrock. Gangsters like these will stop at nothing to collect their loot, and this means attacking the Argentine working class through austerity and mass unemployment. Milei is valuable to US imperialism because he is happy to oblige the wealthy American bloodsuckers.

In the face of these brutal attacks, masses of Argentinian workers, students, and poor people launched waves of strikes, mass demonstrations, and blockades, bordering at times on insurrection. As we see in Argentina and elsewhere, right populism is incapable of solving the working class’s problems!

Before Argentina’s October 26th elections, there were signs that Milei would lose ground in Congress. Fearing that his party might lose the election, frenzied creditors sank the Argentine debt market into a spiral. This forced Argentina’s treasury to intervene in a last-ditch effort to stabilize the peso, nearly exhausting its foreign currency reserves and leaving the economy hanging by a thread.

Trump to the rescue

Into the breach stepped Donald Trump, who swiftly pledged a $20 billion bailout for Argentina, followed later by a plan to facilitate an additional $20 billion from America’s private sector.

With this injection of cash, Trump bought Argentina’s midterm elections, delivering a shock landslide victory for Milei. In the aftermath, Trump remarked that “he’s making us all look good,” while Milei issued calls to “make Argentina great again.”

With the US government shut down and unable to pay for services millions rely upon, including food stamps, healthcare subsidies, and air-traffic control, this move drew the ire of most Americans, including a majority of the MAGA movement. A poll conducted by Newsweek found that only 30% of Trump voters supported the bailout.

Nor is this bailout for the Argentine working class. This money will go straight into the pockets of the financiers that own Argentine debt—the same imperialists that suck American workers dry.

Nor is this bailout for the Argentine working class. This money will go straight into the pockets of the financiers that own Argentine debt—the same imperialists that suck American workers dry.

In the face of these brutal attacks, masses of Argentinian workers, students, and poor people launched waves of strikes, mass demonstrations, and blockades, bordering at times on insurrection. / Image: Jmmuguerza, Wikimedia Commons

Following the election, Argentina’s borrowing costs sank and the peso rose as creditors piled back in. This signals only that Argentine workers will continue to pay the capitalists’ debt through austerity and unemployment as the imperialist creditors circle like vultures above a dying animal.

As Lenin pointed out, politics is concentrated economics. This situation makes a complete mockery of Milei’s libertarian ideas, which dictate that the state should not interfere with the “free market.” But Milei’s own political fortunes, deeply dependent on a foreign government, are the decisive factor in Argentina’s economy at this stage.

A struggle over “America’s back yard”

Trump’s maneuver is also part of the ongoing interimperialist struggle over “America’s back yard” in Latin America.

Chinese imperialism is now the largest trading partner with most South American countries. With Trump engaged in military provocations against Venezuela and Colombia, and a trade war with Brazil, he finds himself grasping for allies in the region. Enter Milei, one of the only pro-US leaders in the hemisphere. US Treasury Secretary Bessent justified the bailout, saying “Stabilizing Argentina is ‘America First,’” calling it “explicitly in the strategic interest of the United States.”

Of course, Trump’s gift to Milei comes with strings attached. On October 22, The Wall Street Journal reported: “Bessent has spoken in recent weeks with Luis Caputo, Argentina’s economic minister, about curbing China’s ability to access the country’s resources, including critical minerals … they have [also] discussed granting the US expanded access to the country’s uranium supply.”

The US and Argentinian capitalists can collaborate to try to squeeze out Chinese imperialism in the region, but this does nothing for the working class in either country. The only thing American and Argentinian workers can expect are cuts, layoffs, inflation, and crisis. The main enemy of the American working class is at home! Our allies are our Argentine working-class brothers and sisters! A workers’ government in the US will pave the way for a Socialist Federation of the Americas stretching from Greenland to Tierra del Fuego!