20B

Oct. 10 (UPI) — The United States has finalized a $20 billion financial support framework with Argentina, making good on President Donald Trump‘s pledge to help the struggling country, led by ally President Javier Milei, despite growing opposition to the move from both Democrats and Republicans.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the deal Thursday on X, saying it followed four days of “intensive meetings” in Washington, D.C., with Argentina’s Minister of Economy Luis Caputo.

The deal, which includes a $20 billion currency swap and the direct purchase of Argentine pesos, was completed with Argentina’s central bank, said Bessent, adding that his department is prepared to “immediately” take all measures needed to stabilize the South American country’s markets.

“Argentina faces a moment of acute illiquidity,” he said in the statement.

“The Trump administration is resolute in our support for allies of the United States, and to that end, we also discussed Argentina’s investment incentives, and U.S. tools to powerfully support investment in our strategic partners.”

Milei, Argentina’s libertarian leader, is a staunch supporter of Trump and attended his inauguration in January.

Last month on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the American president in a press conference alongside Milei endorsed him for a second term.

Trump also told reporters that the United States was “going to help them” but that it wouldn’t be a bailout.

Caputo expressed his “deepest gratitude” to Bessent online following the announcement.

“I eagerly anticipate our meeting next week, where I am confident our teams will continue to collaborate with the same spirit of determination and partnership to advance our mutual objectives,” Caputo said on X.

Trump and Milei are scheduled to meet Tuesday.

The announcement has been met with criticism from both sides of the political aisle as well as farmers.

Eight senators on Thursday introduced the No Argentina Bailout Act to prohibit Treasury funds from bailing out Argentina’s financial markets.

“It’s inexplicable that President Trump is propping up a foreign government, while he shuts down our own,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, said in a statement.

“Trump promised ‘America First,’ but he’s putting himself and his billionaire buddies first and sticking american with the bill.”

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa similarly complained about the deal on X.

“Why would USA help bail out Argentina while they take American soybean producers’ biggest market??? We shld use leverage at every turn to help hurting farm economy Family farmers shld be top of mind in negotiations by representatives of USA,” he said.

The American Soybean Association has voiced opposition to the bailout since Bessent first announced negotiations with Argentina mid-last month.

The ASA was upset that Trump’s tariffs had seen U.S. soybean farmers secure zero sales to China this crop cycle, while Argentine ships soybeans to the Asian nation.

“The frustration is overwhelming,” ASA President Caleb Ragland said in a statement.

“U.S. soybean prices are falling, harvest is underway and farmers read headlines not about securing a trade agreement with China, but that the U.S. government is extending $20 billion in economic support to Argentina while that country drops its soybean export taxes to sell 20 shiploads of Argentine soybeans to China in just two days.”

June 2 (UPI) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced plans Monday to inject an additional $20.3 billion into the country’s nuclear weapons program to combat the “threat from Russia” and China and build 12 new nuclear-powered attack submarines.

The new spending is part of a major Strategic Defense Review unveiled by Starmer at a military contractor on Clydeside in Scotland, home to the country’s Trident submarine nuclear deterrent, aimed at restoring Britain’s fighting capability and making it “war-ready” within two years for a conflict in Europe and/or the Atlantic.

“We are moving to war-fighting readiness as the central purpose of our armed forces. When we are being directly threatened by states with advanced military forces, the most effective way to deter them is to be ready, and frankly, to show them that we’re ready to deliver peace through strength,” Starmer said.

“I believe the best way to deter conflict is to prepare for it.”

The plan, was Starmer said, “a blueprint to make Britain safer and stronger, a battle-ready, bomber-clad nation with the strongest alliances and the most advanced capabilities, equipped for the decades to come.”

However, he stressed that it would be a “NATO first” policy, putting the military alliance at the center of everything the United Kingdom did.

In addition to the nuclear warheads program and submarines, which will be built under the AUKUS security pact signed in 2021, other review pledges include six new munitions plants and adding 7,000 new long-range weapons to Britain’s arsenal, a “hybrid” Royal Navy that uses drones alongside warships, submarines and aircraft and invest in improved housing and equipment for members of the armed forces.

While Starmer said he was unable to give assurances that defense spending would reach the government’s goal 3% of GDP by 2034, everything in the defense blueprint was deliverable within the 2.5% figure the government committed to in February, due by Fiscal Year 2027.

Britain’s fiscal year runs April 1 through March 31.

The government has promised $12 billion of the $20 billion will come from economic growth, rather than spending cuts or tax hikes.

The 3% is an “ambition,” and the government’s refusal to set a firm timeline, and again tying it in with economic growth, raised eyebrows.

Starmer rejected suggestions that the failure to commit to a 3.5% minimum by 2032 called for by Secretary-General Mark Rutte and others, demonstrated a lack of commitment to the 32-member-country alliance.

The SDR was slammed by both the opposition Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.

“With the prime minister unable to even confirm a date for hitting 3% on defense spending, the SDR really is unravelling. How can they deliver what they’ve promised?” Shadow Defense Secretary James Cartledge wrote on X.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Starmer’s ruling Labour Party of not being able to “even hold a defense policy together for 48 hours.”

“How can they be trusted to defend Britain? In the most dangerous era in a generation, they found BILLIONS for the Chagos surrender — but can’t commit to properly funding our armed forces,” she wrote in a social media post.

Writing on X, Helen Maguire, defense spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, called for all-party negotiations to agree on a path forward to 3% of GDP.

“Whilst the prime minister is totally right to recognize the importance of increasing our defense capabilities — without a clear spending plan — the SDR risks becoming a damp squib,” she said.