Why Trump is bailing out Argentina for $20 billion

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  Good morning. It's Wednesday, October 15th.

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  I'm Shimita Basu.

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  This is Apple News Today.

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  On today's show, how domestic furniture makers are feeling about new tariffs,

• 00:16

  why one Powerball winner is snatching up real estate burned by the LA fires,

• 00:21

  and how the world's worst men's soccer team could make it to the World Cup.

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  But first, to the man President Trump calls his favorite president.

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  Argentinian leader Javier Milei is perhaps most known internationally as a libertarian who literally takes a chainsaw to spending.

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  Well, yesterday he was at the White House to thank the Trump administration for a $20 billion bailout.

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  For Milei, this financial package could be an economic lifeboat that saves the peso from a currency crisis and a political lifeboat.

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  And Trump has said that financial infusion is necessary to stabilize Argentina's economy and prevent effects from spilling over into the region,

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  all while applauding Milei's record of slashing government spending, cutting regulations, and reducing the federal workforce.

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  But critics say it's mostly a political play,

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  a way for Trump to publicly praise a like-minded leader and bolster Milei and his party on the heels of an upcoming election in Argentina.

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  The Wall Street Journal's editorial board described it this way: Argentina is in need of monetary reform,

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  but this deal risks throwing good dollars after bad pesos.

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  At their face-to-face meeting yesterday, Trump explicitly linked the agreement to Milei's political future.

• 01:46

  We think he's going to win.

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  He should win.

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  And if he does win, we're going to be very helpful.

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