On Thursday, Scott Bessent, Donald Trump's nominee for Treasury Secretary, declared his full readiness to increase sanctions against Russia. “If I am approved and President Trump asks 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.
Bessent referred to the issue of sanctions against Russia during a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee as part of the process of confirming him to his new position.
– If any official in the Russian Federation is watching this hearing, they should know that if I am confirmed and President Trump asks for it as part of his strategy to end war in UkraineI will be 100 percent in favor of adopting sanctions, especially against Russian oil giants, to levels that would force the Russian Federation to come to the negotiating table, the financier declared.
According to Bessent, the sanctions so far were too mild Vincent Alban/Bloomberg/GettyImages
The candidate also said that “the tragedy that is happening in Ukraine is one of the greatest tragedies of my adult life.” He stressed that if approved, he wants to play a role in ending it as quickly as possible.
Bessent assessed that the sanctions so far have not been severe enoughbut admitted that he was surprised that the outgoing administration decided to introduce restrictions on the Russian oil sector only just before the end of its term, leaving the problem of 9% higher prices. oil prices to its successors.
“China is the most unsustainable economy”
During the nearly four-hour meeting, Bessent also addressed a number of other issues, fully supporting maintaining the tax cuts introduced in 2017 and defending Trump's proposed tariffs. Bessent disagreed with predictions that U.S. consumers would ultimately 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 are struggling with serious economic problems. – China is the most unsustainable economy in the history of the world. They are in a serious recession, depression, they may have minus 4%. disinflation and are trying to get out of it by exporting, instead of carrying out much needed internal rebalancing. So I agree on the need to open markets, but we cannot allow such a player to flood our markets or flood the world, he said.
Xi JinpingXINHUA / Li Xueren/PAP
The businessman fully supported maintaining the Federal Reserve's independence in setting monetary policy and noted that this view was shared by Trump, who has tried to publicly influence the Fed's decisions in the past.
– President Trump will communicate his views, just like senators did – said Bessent, but a moment later he added that “in decisions regarding monetary policy, the FOMC should be independent.”
Main photo source: JIM LO SCALZO/PAP/EPA