ESF Becomes Foreign Bailout Tool

The U.S. Treasury is considering using the Exchange Stabilization Fund to buy Argentine currency or USD‑denominated Argentine debt and to offer swap lines during a market run. This would revive 1990s‑style crisis support via an executive‑controlled fund, potentially without new congressional appropriations. — Using the ESF to prop up an allied government would blur geopolitics and markets, expand executive financial power, and raise moral‑hazard and precedent questions for future crises.