Argentina's Fernandez turns to Brazil's Lula for dollar support.

Argentine President Alberto Fernández and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, are working on a mechanism to avoid using the US dollar in trade between the neighboring nations. The proposed plan involves a line of credit to finance Brazilian companies that export to Argentina with the intention of avoiding the use of the dollar. Brazil is Argentina’s largest trade partner, and the deal could afford Argentina some breathing room at a time when it is suffering from a shortage of dollars. Argentina is also renegotiating aspects of its agreement signed with the IMF in 2022 to restructure some $44 billion in debt taken on by the center-right government of Fernández’s predecessor, Mauricio Macri.