By bizn_fun 
In recent provincial elections in Buenos Aires, Milei’s La Libertad Avanza coalition (Freedom Advances) performed worse than expected, spooking markets watchful for any sign his economic programme’s days might be numbered.
His party has recently been rocked by several corruption scandals.
If Milei’s party loses seats, or fails to gain more, in this month’s midterms – that could affect his government’s ability to pass further reforms.
Several key vetoes he has tried to make have already been overturned by Congress, where he doesn’t have a majority.
But will US support actually make a difference?
Argentine stocks fell after Tuesday’s news conference.
This intervention, which was supposed to stabilise the economy in Argentina, now seemed to hinge on Milei securing more political support.
And it seems the financial markets are unconvinced that Trump’s endorsement will be enough to boost Milei’s electoral chances.
This currency swap was, economically speaking, supposed to be a bit of a lifeline for Argentina’s currency – the peso, which has been losing value for years.
As a means to control inflation, Milei had been stopping the peso from devaluing too drastically by keeping it propped up with the country’s reserves.
The problem with that is that it drained reserves ahead of $20bn of debt due next year.
That led to fears, including among investors, that the country was heading for a financial crisis if it defaulted on its debts again.
Some thought that to avert this Milei might have to let the currency devalue drastically – which would lead to a spike in prices as people’s money would suddenly be worth less.
Many economists told me they thought this would be “political suicide”. So, perhaps the US intervention helps avoid that political disaster.
But is this really going to cut through to ordinary voters? Opinion polls suggest that some Argentines are tiring of Milei’s sharp austerity measures.
His supporters hail them for bringing down inflation and cutting the deficit.
But they’ve come at a social cost – with large cuts to pensions, education, health, infrastructure, and transport and utilities subsidies among other things.