President Donald Trump faces a MAGA backlash after offering a $20 billion lifeline to Argentina, as thousands of federal workers face layoffs and soybean farmers bear the brunt of his sweetheart deal.
With the government shutdown entering its 14th day, Trump will welcome his Argentinian ally Javier Milei to the White House on Tuesday, as the Latin American leader seeks to stave off a financial crisis and political disaster for his country.
The meeting comes just days after the Trump administration agreed to provide Argentina with a $20 billion bailout, which would be in the form of a currency swap with the nation’s central bank.
However, some MAGA conservatives have joined Democrats to hit out at the administration for extending foreign assistance while federal workers remain furloughed, and more than 4000 received layoff notices on Friday as the Trump administration uses the shutdown to reshape the government.
Republicans from soybean-growing states have also angrily rebuked the move, arguing that it gives Argentina an unfair advantage in global markets—including China, which has traditionally been the biggest export market for U.S. soybeans.
“What are we doing? We’re buying out and doing a buyout with Argentina? Like, huh?” MAGA firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has increasingly broken ranks with her party, asked on The Tim Dillon Show.
Iowa Republican Scott Grassley was also critical, writing on X: “We [should] use leverage at every turn to help hurting farm economy. Family farmers [should] be top of mind in negotiations by representatives of USA,” he added.
John Bartam, a soybean farmer from Illinois, said Trump’s $20 billion lifeline had led to Argentina lowering their export tax, which resulted in China buying seven million tonnes of soybeans from them, at the expense of the U.S.
“MAGA now means Make Argentina Great Again,” he said on Tuesday.
The $20 billion lifeline was announced this month by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who insisted on Fox that it wasn’t a “bailout.”
The administration is instead framing the credit as a strategic intervention to stabilize Argentina’s flagging economy and shore up Milei’s pro-market reforms.
“The success of Argentina’s reform agenda is of systemic importance, and a strong, stable Argentina which helps anchor a prosperous Western Hemisphere is in the strategic interest of the United States,” said Bessent.
Milei is perhaps the Trump administration’s strongest backer in Latin America, where superpower rivalry with China is heating up.
The Argentine leader was also one of only two world leaders onstage at Trump’s inauguration and Trump has described him as his “favorite president.” He is also expected to attend a ceremony at the White House on Tuesday posthumously awarding Charlie Kirk with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“Javier Milei is a very good friend, fighter, and WINNER, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election as President — He will never let you down!” Trump wrote on Truth Social last month as he announced his endorsement of Milei’s reelection campaign for Argentina’s 2027 presidential elections.
However, political observers and economic experts note that Argentina has a long history of squandering other people’s money and defaulting on its own debts.
Democrats have also attacked the administration because cash for Argentina is a betrayal of Trump’s “America First” agenda.
“It is inexplicable that President Trump is propping up a foreign government, while he shuts down our own,” said Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.
“Trump promised ‘America First,’ but he’s putting himself and his billionaire buddies first and sticking Americans with the bill.”
Trump’s Oval Office meeting comes as the shutdown continues into another week, grinding non-essential services to a halt and forcing more than 750,000 federal workers to stay home.
More than 4000 notices have also gone out to notify workers they face the sack, as Trump and his resident “grim reaper”, Russell Vought, use the shutdown to reshape the government.
Employees at the departments of Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Homeland Security and Treasury are among those affected.
