Steve Moore told Newsmax on Tuesday that the United States' decision to buy $20 billion in Argentine pesos to help stabilize Argentina's economy is a "reasonable bridge" to support President Javier Milei, whose free-market reforms have faced resistance at home.
Moore, an economist and Senior Visiting Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told "Rob Schmitt Tonight" that Milei's effort to dismantle Argentina's welfare-state model and curb runaway inflation mirrors the early economic challenges former President Ronald Reagan confronted in the 1980s.
"Milei is doing almost all the right things," Moore said. "It's like ripping off a Band-Aid when you try to get rid of socialism. It's going to hurt a little bit at the beginning, but the dividends will be huge."
Moore praised Trump for backing Milei's program with the currency-stabilization deal, which Treasury officials described as a loan intended to shore up Argentina's collapsing peso and reassure global markets. The agreement, structured through the Federal Reserve and Argentina's central bank, reportedly will allow Buenos Aires to draw on U.S. reserves while implementing spending cuts and privatization measures.
"It is supposed to be a loan, but you never know — how many times have these loans never been repaid?" Moore said. "Trump is right to try to provide some support for a guy who's getting the economic policies right. If the people in Argentina have the courage to stay with this program, I think you're going to see a renaissance."
Milei, a libertarian economist elected in 2023 on promises to "chainsaw" government spending, has seen his approval ratings fall as unions and opposition lawmakers push back against subsidy cuts. Argentina's inflation, which once peaked above 250% early in Milei's term, has since fallen to 31.8% in September, according to data from Argentina's National Institute of Statistics and Censuses.
Milei's party La Libertad Avanza was decisively defeated last month in legislative elections in Buenos Aires Province, the country's most populous region, representing about 40% of eligible voters and more than 30% of the nation's gross domestic product. The vote was widely seen as a bellwether for national midterm elections on Oct. 26, where half of the Chamber of Deputies and one-third of the Senate are up for grabs.
"If you go back 100 years ... Argentina was one of the five-richest countries on the planet," Moore said. "Their per capita income was almost equal to the United States. And then the Peronists came in. And by the way, the liberals talk about [former Argentine President Juan] Perón as being saviors. No, they destroyed that country. The Peronists destroyed the country, and yet they're still held up as heroes. So, whether we should give them money or not, fine. A little bridge, but they're going to have to solve their own problems."
Moore said Argentina's long-term stability will depend on sticking with Milei's reforms and linking its currency to the U.S. dollar.
"I also like the idea Argentina should dollarize," he said. "They should peg the peso to the dollar."
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