Between Dollars, Swaps, and the Monroe Doctrine

The U.S.–Argentina Agreement and the Geopolitics of Liquidity

Abstract

This essay examines the currency stabilization agreement signed in October 2025 between the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic, using it as a case study to interpret currency swaps as instruments of economic diplomacy. Drawing on an exploratory, interpretive approach, the analysis identifies three dimensions of the agreement — the institutional architecture of the signatory parties, the timing of the announcement against the backdrop of Argentina’s domestic situation and bilateral relations, and the official rhetoric surrounding it — which together point toward a geopolitical reading of the instrument. The essay argues that, under the Trump II administration, the selective provision of liquidity can function simultaneously as a tool of financial stabilization and as an incentive within economic diplomacy aimed at consolidating political alignment. It closes by outlining several avenues for further research on currency swaps as an instrument of financial statecraft.