Watch the live broadcast: Trump meets with Argentine Miley as the United States prepares for a $20 billion rescue plan

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA – Argentina’s liberal leader heaped praise on Donald Trump ahead of his first White House meeting with the US president on Tuesday. It’s a tactic that has helped turn President Javier Miley’s cash-strapped nation into one of the Trump administration’s closest allies.

Trump and Miley are scheduled to meet at 1:15 p.m. ET. Watch in the player above.

Such impassioned statements are nothing new for Milley — whose deep cuts in government spending and attacks on “woke leftists” have earned him a following among American conservatives.

“Your commitment to life, freedom and peace has restored hope to the world,” Miley wrote on social media on Monday, congratulating the US president on reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, where the truce is still holding after a devastating two-year war between Israel and Hamas.

“It is an honor to consider you not only an ally in defending those values, but also a dear friend and an example of leadership that inspires all those who believe in freedom,” he said.

Read more: Argentina’s Miley launches an initiative to strengthen relations between Israel and Latin America

The cordial relationship between Trump and Miley has already paid off for Argentina — most recently, a $20 billion bailout.

Experts say Miley comes to the White House with two clear goals. The first is to negotiate US tariff exemptions or discounts on Argentine products.

Another is to see how the United States will implement a $20 billion currency swap line to support the Argentine peso and replenish its depleted foreign currency reserves before crucial midterm elections later this month.

In crises, he turns to Trump

The Trump administration made the highly unusual decision to intervene in Argentina’s currency market after Miley’s party suffered a landslide loss in local elections last month.

Combined with setbacks in the opposition-dominated Congress, the party’s crushing defeat created a crisis of confidence as voters in Buenos Aires province registered frustration with high unemployment, a contraction in economic activity and corruption scandals.

Investors, alarmed that this might herald the end of popular support for Miley’s free market program, dumped Argentine bonds and sold the peso.

The Argentine Treasury has begun bleeding its precious dollar reserves at a feverish pace, in an attempt to support the currency and keep its exchange rate within the trading range set as part of the country’s recent $20 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund.

But as the peso continued to fall, Miley became desperate.

He met with Trump on September 23 while he was in New York City to attend the United Nations General Assembly meetings. A wave of slaps, handshakes, and mutual flattery between the two quickly gave way to US Treasury Secretary Scott Pisent, who publicly promised Argentina a lifeline worth $20 billion.

The markets rejoiced, and investors breathed a sigh of relief.

Timing is everything

In the days that followed, Argentine Economy Minister Luis Caputo spent hours in meetings in Washington trying to seal the deal.

Reassurance came last Thursday, when Picent announced that the United States would allow Argentina to exchange $20 billion worth of pesos for an equivalent amount of dollars. Picente said the success of the Miley program was “systemically important” and added that the US Treasury had directly purchased an unspecified amount of pesos.

For the Trump administration, the timing was awkward as it struggled to manage the idea of ​​bailing out a nine-time defaulter in the middle of a US government shutdown that led to mass layoffs.

But for Argentina, it has come at the right time.

Aware of how a weak currency could threaten his key achievement of taming inflation and hurt his popularity, Miley hopes to avoid what many economists see as an inevitable devaluation until after the October 26 midterm elections.

A depreciation of the peso will likely lead to a return of inflation.

Marcelo J. said: “Miley is going to the United States in a moment of desperation now,” said Garcia, political analyst and Americas director at political risk consultancy Horizon Engage.

“He needs to re-create market expectations and show that his program can be sustainable,” Garcia added. “The government is trying to buy some time to get to the midterm elections without major course corrections, such as devaluing or floating the peso.”

There are no conditions attached

Miley was vague when pressed for details about his talks with Trump, expected later on Tuesday. Officials say he will hold a two-hour meeting with the US president, followed by a working lunch with other senior officials.

He is also expected to participate in a White House ceremony honoring Charlie Kirk, the prominent right-wing political activist who was shot dead last month. Miley often met Kirk on the speaking circuit of the rising global right.

“We do not have a single-issue agenda, but rather a multi-issue agenda,” Miley told Radio Observador in Buenos Aires on Monday. “Things that have already been completed will be announced, and things that still need to be finalized will remain pending.”

It is not clear what conditions, if any, the Trump administration attached to the currency swap deal, which Democratic lawmakers and other critics have criticized as an example of Trump rewarding loyalists at the expense of American taxpayers.

There was no information on how Argentina, the IMF’s largest debtor, would end up repaying the US $20 billion, which comes on top of a special IMF loan of the same amount in April. This came in addition to a previous loan from the International Monetary Fund worth $40 billion.

Despite all the aid, Miley’s government has already failed to meet early targets set by the International Monetary Fund to rebuild currency reserves.

“The United States should be concerned that Argentina is having to return $20 billion so quickly after receiving a $14 billion advance from the IMF,” said Brad Setser, a former Treasury Department official who now works at the Council on Foreign Relations.

He added: “I am concerned that this may only be a short-term bridge and will not leave Argentina better equipped” to address its problems.

But in the radio interview before his trip, Miley was optimistic. He spoke passionately of U.S. support for rescuing Argentina from the “domestic privilege of 21st century socialism,” and waxed poetic about Argentina’s economic potential.

“There will be a flood of dollars,” Miley said. “We will have dollars flowing out of our ears.”