On Thursday, Scott Bessent, Donald Trump’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, announced his full readiness to increase sanctions against Russia. “If I am confirmed and President Trump calls for it as part of his strategy to end the war in Ukraine, I will be 100 percent in favor of sanctions,” he said. He also supported maintaining the Fed’s independence.
Bessen addressed the issue of sanctions against Russia during a meeting of the Senate Finance Committee as part of his confirmation process.
– If any official of the Russian Federation is watching this trial, he should know that if I am confirmed and President Trump demands this as part of his strategy to end the war in Ukraine, I will be 100% in favor of sanctions, especially against the oil giants. Russia, to the extent of forcing the Russian Federation to come to the negotiating table, said the finance minister.
According to Bessent, the sanctions have so far been very light Vincent Alban/Bloomberg/GettyImages
The candidate also said that “the tragedy that is happening in Ukraine is one of the biggest tragedies of my adult life.” He emphasized that if approved, he wants to play a role in its completion as soon as possible.
Bessent assessed that the existing sanctions were not strong enough, but admitted that he was surprised that the outgoing administration decided to impose restrictions on the Russian oil sector just before the end of its term, leaving the problem of a 9% increase in prices. . oil price to his heirs.
“China is the most stable economy”
During the nearly four-hour meeting, Bessent also discussed a number of other issues, advocating for maintaining the 2017 tax cuts and supporting Trump’s proposed tariffs. Bessent disagreed with predictions that U.S. consumers would eventually pay for the tariffs, pointing to a possible strengthening of the currency and predicting that Chinese exporters would lower their prices to maintain their position in the market.
He also assessed that China is struggling with serious economic problems. – China is the most unstable economy in the history of the world. They are in serious recession, depression, they can have minus 4%. deflation and try to get rid of it by exporting instead of doing the much needed internal balancing. Therefore, I agree with the need to open the markets, but we cannot allow such a player to flood our markets or flood the world, he said.
Xi Jinping/Xinhua/Lee Suren/PAP
The businessman strongly supported maintaining the Federal Reserve’s independence in setting monetary policy, noting that this view was supported by Trump, who in the past has tried to publicly influence the Fed’s decisions.
“President Trump is expressing his views, as are the senators,” Bessent said, but he later added that “the FOMC should be independent in making monetary policy decisions.”
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Main photo: JIM LO SCALZO / PAP / EPA
