Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hit back at Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., defending the Trump administration’s decision to provide Argentina a $20 billion currency swap line with Argentina’s central bank earlier in October.
Bessent’s response came after Warren issued a letter voicing concern and requesting answers on why the Trump administration was moving forward with providing Argentina a financial lifeline as its economy struggles, particularly during a U.S. government shutdown, which started Oct. 1.
“We have been forced to prioritize mission-critical efforts necessary to the discharge of the President’s constitutional duties — including national security and global financial stability,” Bessent said in the letter, obtained by Fox News Digital and sent to Warren Tuesday.
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Bessent then accused Warren of displaying “Peronist views,” a reference to a former president of Argentina, Juan Perón, and Peronism, an ideology that espouses that the government should have control of the national economy, according to the State Department’s Office of the Historian.
“There is little surprise — given your Peronist views on big government and freedom — that this type of action causes you great anxiety,” Bessent said.
CNN first reported the letter.
Warren fired back at Bessent Wednesday and said Trump was more focused on helping an “ideological ally” rather than addressing U.S. issues during the shutdown.
“Ultimately, President Trump does not appear to be interested in meaningfully addressing any of our country’s pressing problems that are indeed ‘mission-critical,’” Warren said in a new letter Wednesday. “Instead, during a government shutdown, his Administration is working to make direct purchases of a foreign currency — helping an ideological ally, billionaire investors, and major hedge funds while American farmers and workers miss paychecks and face rising costs for basic necessities.”
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Warren, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, introduced the No Argentina Bailout Act in October. The measure would bar the Trump administration from using the Treasury Department’s Exchange Stabilization Fund, which provides financing to foreign governments, to assist Argentina.
Warren’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Bessent announced Oct. 9 that the Treasury Department would engage in the currency swap agreement with Argentina’s central bank.
The move was made in an attempt to stabilize the peso by exchanging it for U.S. dollars, and Bessent said in a social media post that the U.S. “is prepared, immediately, to take whatever exceptional measures are warranted to provide stability to markets.”
Since then, Bessent has floated issuing Argentina an additional $20 billion in financing, using sovereign funds and those from private banks.
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“We are working on a $20 billion facility that would complement our swap line, with private banks and sovereign funds that, I believe, would be more focused on the debt market,” Bessent said Oct. 16.
President Donald Trump and President Javier Millei of Argentina have had a warm relationship since Trump took office. For example, Milei was the first foreign head of state to visit Trump following the 2024 election.
The Associated Press and Fox News’ Amanda Macias contributed to this report.
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