Brazil, Chile and other large South American economies have called for a US appeals court to overturn a record $16bn judgment against Argentina, which was found last year to have violated shareholders’ rights when it expropriated national oil company YPF.
The ruling by a New York judge has become a problem for Argentine president Javier Milei’s new administration. It has argued that the sum — which amounts to 45 per cent of the nation’s annual budget for 2024 — cannot possibly be paid by the cash-strapped country and that a US federal court should not have jurisdiction over the claims.
Argentina appealed the judgment to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit New York in October last year. It has now been joined in its challenge by fellow South American countries Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Ecuador, all of which signed on to briefs claiming that allowing the judgment to stand would amount to US interference in other sovereign states’ legal affairs.