BERLIN — Dozens of politicians from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party will travel to Washington in December at the invitation of a group of House Republicans, said U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna. The invitation to AfD politicians comes at a time when German far-right figures are increasingly looking for support from MAGA Republicans in the U.S. for what they frame as a struggle against political persecution and censorship at home. “It’s 40 members that we’re hosting from the AfD,” Luna said in an interview with Welt, which is a sister publication of POLITICO in the Axel Springer Group. “And it’s not just going to be me, it’s going to be other members of Congress as well.” A spokesperson for the AfD said he could “neither confirm nor deny” whether that number of the party’s politicians is in fact set to travel to the U.S. next month. The spokesperson of the AfD’s parliamentary group in the Bundestag said the number of federal lawmakers traveling to the U.S. capital would not be that high. Luna has taken an active interest in German far-right figures’ claims that they are being persecuted in Germany for their views, recently telling POLITICO that “the German government’s recent actions against its own citizens resemble the authoritarianism of the Soviet Union prior to its fall more than Russia does today.” Some Trump administration officials have also spoken out in support of the AfD. When Germany’s federal domestic intelligence agency declared the AfD to be an extremist organization earlier this year, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the move “tyranny in disguise.” During the Munich Security Conference, U.S. Vice President JD Vance urged European mainstream politicians to knock down the “firewalls” that shut out far-right parties from government. Germany’s postwar constitution allows domestic intelligence agencies to surveil political parties, actors and organizations deemed extremist — and to make it theoretically possible to ban such parties. These restrictions were intended by the drafters of the West German constitution to prevent a repeat of the Nazi rise to power, when anti-democratic forces were able to subvert democracy from within. AfD leaders see the invitation to Washington as an opportunity to win more legitimacy domestically for their claims of persecution. Luna invited AfD co-leader Alice Weidel to Washington at the end of last month via a post on X. Weidel reacted postively and said she would reach out to discuss further arrangements. Luna also recently met with Naomi Seibt, a right-wing influencer and AfD ally, who recently said she had applied for asylum in the U.S., claiming to be the target of  “severe government and intelligence surveillance and harassment” for her political views and defense of free speech in Germany. “I think that she [Seibt] is a great young woman, and I do think that she has a promising future whatever she decides to do, and so we’ll be fully backing her,” Luna told Welt. “I’m actually not just going to be helping her, but I’m going to be helping others like her,” Luna said. “I do hope that maybe this at least provides some open dialogue on how the German government — specifically the politicians, law enforcement — treat their own citizens even if they don’t agree with them.” The trip to Washington by AfD members in December is to be followed by a larger-scale conference early next year, Luna said, something that “will counter Davos” and be more focused on “the sovereignty of nations.” Julius Brinkmann contributed to this report from Washington.

Nearly two years ago, Argentina’s newly appointed punk-haired President Javier Milei stood up on a podium in front of global elites in Davos and accused them of letting their societies drift into socialism and poverty. He went on to argue that the “main leaders of the Western world have abandoned the model of freedom for different versions of what we call collectivism,” and that all market failures were by-products of state intervention. This week, however, Davos had the last laugh: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threw Milei a $20 billion lifeline to help Argentina defend a currency that is collapsing despite nearly two years of shock therapy programs that had had supply-side economists and investors in raptures. “Argentina faces a moment of acute illiquidity,” Bessent posted on X. “The international community — including the IMF — is unified behind Argentina and its prudent fiscal strategy, but only the United States can act swiftly. And act we will.” The rescue act, which many have described as a country-to-country bailout, is an abrupt departure from the usual playbook of international financial diplomacy, an unusually direct intervention in a sphere normally reserved for multilateral institutions. In a strong signal that this was the result of political will, rather than financial apparatchiks just trying to keep the system stable, the money will be directly extended by the Treasury, rather than by the Federal Reserve, in the form of a currency swap. It stands to entangle the fate of the U.S. economy intimately with that of resource-rich Argentina, and tie the Trump administration directly to Milei’s shock therapy programs. At the same time, it reasserts U.S. influence in a region that China has increasingly penetrated through growing trade ties. For Europe, the corollary is that access to dollar liquidity, the essential backstop of the world financial system for nearly a century, is being politicized, and may increasingly depend on how closely its policies align with those of the U.S. “Europe should be concerned about the politicization of the swaps,” one former New York Federal Reserve official told POLITICO. The episode “underscores the need for the rest of the world to prepare for dealing with a dollar crunch without the Fed[to turn to],” added the official, who was granted anonymity to speak freely. CHAINSAW ECONOMIC MASSACRE Milei was explicitly elected in 2023 on the promise that he would take a chainsaw to Argentine government excesses. Positioning himself as the defender of freedom, once in office, he initiated a bold economic agenda focused on radical deregulation, welfare cuts, and liberalization. Within months, the country’s welfare bill had been slashed by nearly half, with the government balancing the books (before interest payments) for the first time since 2008. But it was Milei’s initial move in December 2023 to devalue the official peso exchange rate by nearly 50 percent that rocked markets the most. The hope was to better align the peso with its black market (i.e., real) rate before slowly introducing a floating exchange rate, with sliding bands. Throughout, the International Monetary Fund, the world’s lender of last resort for countries, championed Milei’s policies, which allowed Argentina to return to capital markets earlier than expected. “The agreed ambitious stabilization plan is centered on the establishment of a strong fiscal anchor that ends all central bank financing of the government,” the lender cooed in January 2024. EGG ON THE IMF’S FACE? Except things didn’t go exactly as planned. Rather than stabilize, the peso just kept depreciating, especially after Trump’s tariff announcement in April destabilized global markets. The declines threatened to make imports more expensive for ordinary Argentinians just as Milei’s disinflationary successes were beginning to become entrenched. The road to that point evolved predictably enough. In the immediate aftermath of Milei’s great devaluation, inflation hit 25.5 percent, spiking to 276 percent by February 2025. But, as social welfare cuts began to bite, inflation predictably turned into disinflation. By June 2024, monthly price rises had slowed to 5 percent, and by July-August, inflation had hit single digits for the first time in years. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and independent observers were quick to credit Milei’s strict fiscal surplus, monetary tightening, and peso stabilization. But by April, the peso’s soft float was proving increasingly challenging to defend. Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, which set a baseline rate of 10 percent for all countries, had hit Argentina’s export-dependent economy hard. Capital started to flow out amid fears that a global slowdown would crush demand for its agricultural and mineral exports. The Argentinian central bank moved to defend the peso, burning through scarce dollar reserves. Markets began to doubt that Milei’s agenda would survive, fearing that a sharp, uncontrolled depreciation would rekindle inflation just as prices were calming down. To avert a currency crisis, Argentina turned to the IMF and was granted $20 billion through the agency’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF). But despite an initial positive impact on the peso, the depreciation picked up speed again. From the perspective of both the IMF and the U.S., the failure of Milei’s reforms stood not just to unravel Argentina once again, but to delegitimize the ideological foundations of the free-market system he had touted as infallible if deployed correctly. PROXY ECONOMIC WAR WITH CHINA As confidence in Milei’s program faltered, focus shifted to whether the U.S. would make dollar support conditional on the cancellation of a pre-existing $18 billion swap line with Beijing. U.S. Special Envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone publicly dubbed the facility “extortionate.” In September, Bessent confirmed negotiations between the U.S. and Argentina for a direct dollar swap line, reinforcing speculation that the U.S. was trying to supplant Chinese influence in the region. The news had an immediate positive effect on the peso, breaking its fall. After peaking at over 1,475 pesos, the dollar was back at 1,421 by late Friday in Europe, helped by news that a dollar-support package from Washington was imminent. How long-lasting that effect will be is yet to be determined. For now, Bessent and the IMF appear resolute that it’s just a matter of time until Milei’s policies will deliver the stability they’ve been promising. Rather than framing the U.S. swapline as a bailout, Bessent is treating the intervention as a trading play. “This is not a bailout at all, there’s no money being transferred,” he told Fox News on Thursday. Under a swap line, two parties agree to exchange up to a certain amount of their currencies, on the understanding that it will be reversed at some time in the future. “The ESF has never lost money, it’s not going to lose money here,” Bessent went on, arguing that the peso is “undervalued”. He added that Milei remains a great U.S. ally who is committed to getting China out of Latin America, and said the U.S. was going “to use Argentina as an example.” Not everyone is convinced that Milei’s policies will deliver the goods. “They’ve done this over and over and over again,” said Steve Hanke, a professor at Johns Hopkins University and a veteran of various currency reform and stabilization packages. He argued that the package will provide “a little bit of a temporary band aid, but it won’t last very long.”

LONDON — JD Vance is on a summer break in Britain. He’s not always been such a fan. Donald Trump’s second-in-command hasn’t exactly been shy in expressing what he really thinks about the U.K. over the years, branding it an “Islamist” hellhole bent on ending free speech. But apart from that! As he holidays in the idyllic Cotswolds (dubbed the “Hamptons of England“) — including a stay at U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s taxpayer-funded country pile — Vance will see if his pontificating from afar matches reality. POLITICO runs through five occasions where Vance did not hold back in his assault on old Blighty. 1) BRITAIN IS AN “ISLAMIST COUNTRY” Vance made this outburst before Trump selected him as his VP pick. Last July, the then-Ohio senator called the U.K. an “Islamist country” after Labour ousted the Conservatives from Downing Street.  Speaking at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington, D.C., Vance recounted a conversation with a friend about the dangers of nuclear proliferation. And then he pushed the red button. “I was talking about what is the first truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon,” Vance recalled. “Maybe it’s Iran, maybe Pakistan already kind of counts, and then we sort of finally decided maybe it’s actually the U.K., since Labour just took over.” Labour, then briefly basking in their election glory, shrugged off Vance’s comments.  “I don’t recognize that characterization,” said no-nonsense Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner. “I’m very proud of the election success that Labour had recently. I think he said quite a lot of fruity things in the past as well.” That’s one way of putting it.  2) BRITAIN KILLED FREEDOM OF SPEECH  One of Vance’s first overseas visits in the new gig was to the Munich Security Conference — dubbed “Davos with guns” — in February. Vance’s trip includes a stay at U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s taxpayer-funded country pile. | Johnny Green/PA Images via Getty Images Vance used the forum to launch an attack on Western societies for curbing free speech and allowing mass migration. The U.K. came in for particular criticism, with Vance claiming the “backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons in particular in the crosshairs.” Vance attacked buffer zones outside U.K. abortion clinics, which prohibit protest within a certain distance. And he claimed that the Scottish government had urged citizens to “report any fellow citizens suspected guilty of thought crime.” 3) GUNNING FOR KEIR STARMER When a guest comes to visit, it’s generally nice to make them feel welcome. Not for Vance, who  was happy to make British Prime Minister Keir Starmer sit just a little uneasily in the Oval Office back in February.   While Starmer and Trump appeared to get on like a house on fire, Vance, sat to one side on a couch, carped about how Britain was attacking free speech.  “We also know that there have been infringements on free speech that actually affect not just the British — of course what the British do in their own country is up to them — but also affect American technology companies and, by extension, American citizens,” Vance said. In fairness, the U.K. government did demand Apple grant it a backdoor to access user data, teeing up an almighty fight with the U.S. And its online safety laws have tried to rein in tech giants with new rules forcing them to police “harmful” content – much to the annoyance of some U.S. lawmakers. Still, Starmer managed to hold his own in the face of the impromptu attack. “We’ve had free speech for a very, very long time in the United Kingdom and it will last for a very, very long time,” the PM shot back as Trump looked on. 4) YOU AND WHOSE ARMY?  As Britain and France strained to show Trump that Europe was willing to commit peacekeepers to bolster any Ukrainian ceasefire deal, Vance stepped on a rake. He claimed that the big minerals deal struck between Kyiv and Washington would actually be a better guarantee of Ukraine’s security than “some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.” A soldier of “some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years” fires on the Taliban in Afghanistan, 2007. John Moore/Getty Images The U.K. and France had both fought wars more recently than that — and, while he didn’t name names, Vance was accused by British politicians of disrespecting the memory of the hundreds of soldiers killed while fighting alongside the U.S. in Afghanistan and Iraq. Vance called the criticism of him “absurdly dishonest” and insisted he wasn’t referring to the U.K. and France but unspecified countries who didn’t have the “battlefield experience nor the military equipment.” That’s that cleared up, then. 5) LABORING THE POINT  Vance’s most recent criticism is a familiar right-wing talking point, with the vice-president claiming that immigration has tanked Britain’s productivity. “If you look in nearly every country, from Canada to the U.K., that imported large amounts of cheap labor, you’ve seen productivity stagnate,” he told Washington, D.C. tech bros. “That’s not a total happenstance. I think that the connection is very direct.” In an act of unparalleled generosity, he pointed out that the U.S. has also pursued “40 years of failed economic policy” too. There’s that missing sense of transatlantic solidarity! … AND THE ONE TIME HE WAS NICE Perhaps aware he may have crossed the line one time too many, Vance told UnHerd in April that there is a deep “cultural affinity” between the two nations. He highlighted Trump’s admiration for King Charles and the late Queen Elizabeth. That’s code for: I want to tag along on your fancy state visit, Donald.

Preliminary findings from a probe into World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab reveal that he allegedly manipulated the landmark Global Competitiveness Report to serve political interests and sent lewd emails to younger employees, Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported on Sunday. The probe also showed that his wife allegedly billed trips to the WEF despite holding no official position with the organization, according to the report. These findings appear to corroborate allegations contained in a whistleblower letter, which accused Schwab of financial misconduct — including misuse of WEF funds and inappropriate treatment of employees. The accusations reportedly prompted Schwab to step down from his role as chairman at the WEF — a non-profit best known for its annual gathering of global elites in Davos, Switzerland — after more than half a century at its helm. In April, the WEF confirmed the existence of the whistleblower letter — first reported by the Wall Street Journal — and said it had launched an internal investigation, while stressing that the misconduct allegations “remain unproven.” Schwab has denied the accusations and filed a criminal complaint against the whistleblowers. The WEF did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment. SonntagsZeitung reported that the probe’s preliminary findings indicate that Schwab’s alleged wrongdoing could include meddling with the Global Competitiveness Report — a now-defunct yearly publication that assessed and ranked countries based on economic competitiveness. The competitiveness report was discontinued during the Covid-19 pandemic. Official documents cited by SonntagsZeitung allege that Schwab intervened multiple times to alter or suppress unfavorable rankings for certain countries, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa region and in India, allegedly to preserve diplomatic relations or avoid political fallout. In one instance, Schwab reportedly recommended shelving a negative report after discussing it with a government official, according to the newspaper. The investigation also reportedly concerns up to 900,000 Swiss francs in expenses filed by Schwab and his wife, Hilde.