All posts tagged: Scott Bessent

Bessent defends U.S. dollar swap lines as Iran war harms global finances

Bessent defends U.S. dollar swap lines as Iran war harms global finances

Published by Sam Flores

Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent testifies during a during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government hearing on the Treasury Department’s 2027 budget request in Washington, DC on April 22, 2026. Nathan Posner | Anadolu | Getty Images Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday defended the possibility of the U.S. participating in currency swaps with allies in the Persian Gulf and Asia who are seeking financial backstops due to the Iran war. Discussions with those countries about U.S. dollar swap lines “are part of ongoing, routine conversations that @USTreasury has been having with our partners over a number of years,” Bessent said in an X post. “They are a testament to the U.S. dollar’s primacy and the strength of America’s economic shield,” he said of the potential swaps. The assertion of swap lines’ benefits and commonness comes as the Trump administration considers offering the financial lifeline to the United Arab Emirates, CNBC reported Tuesday. It also comes two days after Bessent said that “many” allies in the Persian Gulf are seeking the same backstop as …

Bessent says ‘many’ allies have asked for currency swaps amid Iran war

Bessent says ‘many’ allies have asked for currency swaps amid Iran war

Published by Sam Flores

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent arrives to testify during a Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on April 22, 2026 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that “many” oil-rich U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf have requested a financial backstop amid economic turbulence from the war with Iran. Bessent’s comments go further than White House assertions to CNBC on Tuesday, where an official said the U.S. had not yet been formally asked to establish a currency swap line by the United Arab Emirates, only that there had been discussions about the topic. Such a swap line would provide the UAE or other Gulf nations with liquidity in the U.S. dollar, but comes loaded with political risk as U.S. consumers weather higher prices from the war for food, gas and other everyday purchases. “Many of our Gulf allies have requested swap lines,” Bessent said. “Swap lines, whether it’s from the Federal Reserve or the Treasury, are …

U.S. banks may soon collect citizenship data from customers

U.S. banks may soon collect citizenship data from customers

Published by Sam Flores

Banks in the U.S. may not like the idea of being forced to collect citizenship data on customers, but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says they better be prepared for the task. “If Treasury and the banking regulators say it’s their job, it’s their job,” Bessent told CNBC’s Sara Eisen at the Invest in America Forum in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. An executive order that has been discussed for months took a step closer to reality earlier this week when Bessent said in an interview with Semafor that the EO is “in process.” The planned EO is one more plank in President Donald Trump’s broader effort to tie his immigration policy to collection of information in the United States, including for voting and Census efforts. In the U.S., citizenship documents are not necessary in order to open a bank account. Banks are required to verify identity. The U.S., like many countries, uses “know your customer” rules for bank accounts to prevent money laundering and other forms of financial crime, verifying client identities, assessing risks, and monitoring …

Trump’s Hormuz blockade tests U.S. ties with China and India

Trump’s Hormuz blockade tests U.S. ties with China and India

Published by Sam Flores

The U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is adding strain to Washington’s relations with China and India, as Beijing hardens its rhetoric and New Delhi faces rising energy risks. Getty The U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is not only squeezing Iran but also ratcheting up pressure on two of its most consequential relationships in Asia — India and China. With roughly 98% of Iranian oil exports bound for China, and a summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping weeks away, Washington’s maximum pressure campaign on Iran risks destabilizing the fragile detente that the administration has carefully cultivated with Beijing. India, with its complicated ties with the U.S., is increasingly finding U.S. policy at odds with its economic interests — most acutely in the energy shock now rippling through its economy. Trump is scheduled to visit China in mid-May, and the administration signaled repeatedly in recent weeks that it wants the bilateral relationship stable enough to keep the high-stakes meeting on track. “The Iran conflict, particularly the blockade, may upend …

Trump officials may be encouraging banks to test Anthropic’s Mythos model

Trump officials may be encouraging banks to test Anthropic’s Mythos model

Published by skeptic

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell summoned bank executives for a meeting this week where they encouraged the executives to use Anthropic’s new Mythos model to detect vulnerabilities, according to Bloomberg.  Indeed, while JPMorgan Chase was the only bank listed as one of the initial partner organizations with access to the model, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley are reportedly testing Mythos as well. Anthropic announced the model this week but said it would be limiting access for now, in part because Mythos — despite not being trained specifically for cybersecurity — is too good at finding security vulnerabilities. (Others suggested this was hype or simply a smart enterprise sales strategy.) The report is particularly surprising since Anthropic is currently battling the Trump administration in court over the Department of Defense’s designation of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk; that designation came after negotiations fell apart over the company’s efforts to limit how its AI models can be used by the government. Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that U.K. …

U.S. issues 30-day sanctions waiver for sale of Iranian oil at sea

U.S. issues 30-day sanctions waiver for sale of Iranian oil at sea

Published by Sam Flores

Ships line up in the Strait of Hormuz as seen from Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. Altaf Qadri | AP The Trump administration on Friday issued a 30-day sanctions waiver for the purchase of Iranian oil at sea to ease energy supply pressures since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. This was the third time the U.S. has temporarily waived sanctions in about two weeks. The U.S. had previously eased sanctions on Russian oil and on Friday issued a general license allowing the sale of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products loaded on vessels as of March 20 to April 19, according to the license posted to the Treasury Department’s website. “By temporarily unlocking this existing supply for the world, the United States will quickly bring approximately 140 million barrels of oil to global markets, expanding the amount of worldwide energy and helping to relieve the temporary pressures on supply caused by Iran,” Bessent said in a statement on X. “In essence, we will be using the Iranian …

Trump-Xi China summit may be delayed: Bessent

Trump-Xi China summit may be delayed: Bessent

Published by Sam Flores

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that the meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese Leader Xi Jinping could be delayed for logistical reasons. Bessent spoke during an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” Trump suggested Sunday that the summit could be delayed as the U.S. pressures China to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Bessent walked those comments back on Monday, arguing the summit would be delayed if Trump chooses to stay in Washington to coordinate the war effort in Iran. “If the meetings are delayed, it wouldn’t be delayed because the president demanded that China police the Strait of Hormuz,” Bessent said in an interview with CNBC’s Brian Sullivan in Paris. “If the meeting, for some reason, is rescheduled, it would be rescheduled because of logistics.” “It would be a decision the president made as commander in chief to stay in the White House or to stay in the United States while this war is being prosecuted,” he said. The comments also indicate that the White House is anticipating the war — which Trump …

U.S., China discuss farm goods, managed trade in Paris talks: Reuters

U.S., China discuss farm goods, managed trade in Paris talks: Reuters

Published by Sam Flores

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gives a statement during the 56th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting, at the USA House venue, in Davos, Switzerland, January 19, 2026. Denis Balibouse | Reuters Top U.S. and Chinese economic officials held “remarkably stable” talks in Paris on Sunday that touched on potential areas of agreement in agriculture, critical minerals and managed trade for U.S. President Donald ⁠Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to consider in Beijing, two sources familiar with the talks said. The sources told Reuters that ​the “candid and constructive” Paris talks ​led by U.S. Treasury Secretary ​Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng would set in motion possible “deliverables” for Trump’s trip to China to meet with Xi at the end of March. But they added that the leaders would have the ⁠final say ‌on the proposals. The Chinese side showed openness to potential ⁠additional purchases of U.S. agricultural goods including poultry, beef and non-soybean row crops, one of the sources said, adding that China was still committed to buy 25 million metric …

‘Don’t need to worry about it’

‘Don’t need to worry about it’

Published by Sam Flores

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday brushed aside concerns that the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz because of the Iran war, which has spiked oil prices, would continue being a problem for the U.S. and the world for much longer. Iran has been “exercising sheer desperation in the Straits of Hormuz,” Hegseth said at a Pentagon press briefing. “We have been dealing with it, and don’t need to worry about it,” he said. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil on Friday morning was around $93 per barrel. A day before the war began on Feb. 28, a barrel of WTI was selling for about $67. Hegseth criticized media reports that claimed that before attacking Iran, the U.S. military lacked a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which is the world’s most critical oil shipping choke point. “Of course, for decades, Iran has threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. This is always what they do, hold the strait hostage,” he said. “We planned for it. We recognize it,” Hegseth told …

U.S. Navy to escort oil tankers through Strait of Hormuz when possible, Bessent says

U.S. Navy to escort oil tankers through Strait of Hormuz when possible, Bessent says

Published by Sam Flores

The U.S. Navy will begin escorting ships through the Strait of Hormuz as soon as “militarily possible,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Sky News on Thursday. “That was always in our planning, that there’s the chance that the U.S. Navy or perhaps an international coalition will be escorting oil tankers through,” Bessent said in that interview. “My belief, that as soon as it is militarily possible, the U.S. Navy and perhaps with an international coalition, will be escorting vessels through,” he said. Bessent’s comments came as the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed to shipping because of the war against Iran by the U.S. and Israel that began Feb. 28. The strait is the world’s most sensitive chokepoint for oil tankers, and its closure has caused crude oil prices to spike. The Trump administration, for more than a week, has suggested that U.S. Navy vessels would escort oil tankers through the strait without that happening. Earlier Thursday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC in an interview that the Navy is not ready to escort …