All posts tagged: Scott Bessent

China’s nudge, U.S. waiver and Iran tensions test India’s economic balancing act

China’s nudge, U.S. waiver and Iran tensions test India’s economic balancing act

Published by Sam Flores

Indian social and women’s rights activist, educationist, Syeda Saiyidain Hameed during the Iran Embassy opens condolence book on the martyrdom of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, on March 5, 2026 in New Delhi, India. Hindustan Times | Hindustan Times | Getty Images India faces a difficult diplomatic balancing act as escalating tensions involving Iran threaten its oil supplies and test New Delhi’s traditional neutral foreign policy. The crisis also comes as China pushes for stronger cooperation within BRICS, the bloc that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday urged closer coordination within the group. “We must step up to the plate, and support each other’s BRICS presidency over the next two years, so as to make BRICS cooperation more substantive and bring new hope to the Global South,” Yi said in Beijing during a press conference. India has not responded to that statement yet. U.S. protectionism in Trump 2.0 has triggered a resumption of ties between India and …

Democrats demand reversal of Russia oil sales to India

Democrats demand reversal of Russia oil sales to India

Published by Sam Flores

U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D–AZ) speaks during the “People’s State of the Union” event ahead of U.S. President Trump’s State of the Union address in Washington, D.C., U.S., Feb. 24, 2026. Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters Congressional Democrats are demanding that the Trump administration immediately reverse a sanctions waiver allowing Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil as the Iran war wreaks havoc on global energy markets. “Your recent decision to provide a 30-day waiver is dangerous, self-defeating, and indefensible,” Rep. Sam Liccardo, D-Calif., and Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., wrote in a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, which was shared exclusively with CNBC. “This waiver constitutes an inexplicable act of material benefit to the enemy.” The Treasury Department last week issued a temporary 30-day sanctions carveout to allow India to buy Russian oil, an effort to ease skyrocketing oil prices caused by the war and the traffic standstill at the Strait of Hormuz. The oil surge comes less than eight months before the November midterm elections that could flip the House of Representatives and the Senate …

How Iran and Venezuela strikes transform the Trump-Xi trade talks

How Iran and Venezuela strikes transform the Trump-Xi trade talks

Published by Sam Flores

TOPSHOT – US President Donald Trump (L) and China’s President Xi Jinping arrive for talks at the Gimhae Air Base, located next to the Gimhae International Airport in Busan on October 30, 2025. Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will seek a truce in their bruising trade war on October 30, with the US president predicting a “great meeting” but Beijing being more circumspect. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images) Andrew Caballero-reynolds | Afp | Getty Images China’s opposition to the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran is stoking tensions between Beijing and Washington just weeks before a high-stakes meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. The Middle East offensive, which has killed China-friendly Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a slew of other Iranian officials, shows the U.S. doubling down hard on its willingness to eschew diplomacy and launch high-risk military operations in pursuit of its global goals. The war began less than two months after the U.S. attacked Venezuela to capture the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, …

Bessent says 15% this week, IEEPA levels later

Bessent says 15% this week, IEEPA levels later

Published by Sam Flores

President Donald Trump’s recently announced 15% global tariff will likely be implemented sometime this week, rising from its current rate of 10%, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday. Bessent also predicted that U.S. tariff rates would, by August, effectively return to where they stood before the Supreme Court recently struck down the often-steeper duties that Trump unilaterally imposed on most of the world’s countries last year. “It’s my strong belief that the tariff rates will be back to their old rate within five months,” Bessent said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” Trump last year, without authorization from Congress, implemented a broad array of tariffs on imports from most other countries by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling on Feb. 20, said Trump did not have the legal authority to circumvent Congress by using IEEPA to impose those duties. Hours after that ruling, Trump said he had signed an executive order to impose a global 10% tariff under a different law. A day later, Trump said …

House Dems call for Treasury probe into Trump family crypto venture

House Dems call for Treasury probe into Trump family crypto venture

Published by Sam Flores

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testifies before a House Financial Services Committee hearing about the annual report of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 4, 2026. Kylie Cooper | Reuters Dozens of House Democrats wrote to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday calling for an investigation into possible conflicts of interest and national security concerns related to World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture. The letter, led by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y. and 40 other lawmakers, landed after Bessent testified at a contentious House Financial Services Committee hearing earlier this month. Meeks at the hearing called Bessent a “flunky” of President Donald Trump and raised questions about a $500 million stake that Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan — a royal from the United Arab Emirates also known as the “spy sheikh” — bought in World Liberty Financial last year. “The Trump family’s $500 million deal connected to the Emirati royal family is not only a matter of national financial instability, but it also carries serious national …

No bailout for crypto billionaires

No bailout for crypto billionaires

Published by Sam Flores

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and ranking member of Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, speaks during a hearing in Washington, Feb. 5, 2026. Kent Nishimura | Bloomberg | Getty Images Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve on Wednesday to confirm that they will not “use taxpayer dollars to bail out cryptocurrency billionaires and other highly leveraged cryptocurrency investors.” The Massachusetts Democrat’s request to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Fed Chair Jerome Powell came as bitcoin continued a slide that has seen the popular cryptocurrency drop about 50% since hitting a high in October. Warren, in a letter to Bessent and Powell about a potential bailout, warned that it not only “would be deeply unpopular to transfer wealth from American taxpayers to cryptocurrency billionaires, it could also directly enrich President [Donald] Trump and his family’s cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial.” She noted that both the Treasury Department and the Fed have authorities that empower them to give financial support to banks and other entities during a financial …

Senate should proceed with Warsh hearings for Fed chair: Bessent

Senate should proceed with Warsh hearings for Fed chair: Bessent

Published by Sam Flores

The Senate should move to advance Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Federal Reserve chairman, even as a federal criminal investigation into current chair Jerome Powell continues, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday. Bessent, in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” said he believes after speaking this week to Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee that they “are going to proceed” with a nomination hearing. “I think it’s important to get the hearings underway, and I think we have an agreement to do that,” he said. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has vowed to block Warsh’s nomination from moving through the Banking Committee unless the Department of Justice drops its probe into Powell. Trump, however, has said the criminal probe, led by U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, should continue to the end, setting up a potential impasse. Powell, whom Trump appointed during his first term, has declined to raise interest rates as much as the administration has urged him to do. Tillis has also rejected an idea, floated this week, to …

Trump would decide whether to investigate Fed pick Warsh over refusal to cut rates: Bessent

Trump would decide whether to investigate Fed pick Warsh over refusal to cut rates: Bessent

Published by Sam Flores

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (L), and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Feb. 5th, 2026. Getty Images | Reuters Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday refused to rule out the possibility of a criminal investigation of Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Federal Reserve chair, if Warsh ends up refusing to cut interest rates. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, questioned Bessent about a joke Trump made over the weekend about suing Warsh if he does not reduce rates to the president’s liking, according to The Wall Street Journal. “I think it was a joke, but just in case, this should be an easy one, Mr. Secretary: can you commit right here and now that Trump’s Fed nominee Kevin Warsh will not be sued, will not be investigated by the Department of Justice if he doesn’t cut interest rates exactly the way that Donald Trump wants?” Warren asked.  “That is up to the president,” Bessent said, as the questioning devolved …

Democrats grill Treasury chief Bessent at House oversight hearing

Democrats grill Treasury chief Bessent at House oversight hearing

Published by Sam Flores

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sparred with Democratic members of the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, with one calling him a “flunky” for failing to criticize investment from United Arab Emirates officials in the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture. Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., probed Bessent on alleged conflicts of interest and lack of transparency related to World Liberty Financial, which was co-founded by Trump’s family members. “When a foreign-linked investor is putting hundreds of millions of dollars into a company controlled by the president’s family, and at the same time, this president is conducting foreign policy with that country … it creates a national security concern,” Meeks said. Meeks asked Bessent to commit to a complete investigation into the “conflicts of interest and foreign influence” and to pause any bank charter or licensing applications at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, an independent arm of the Treasury that regulates banks. “The OCC is an independent entity,” Bessent said, over the shouts of Meeks, without addressing the topic further. “Stop covering for the president. Stop …

Bessent says 15% this week, IEEPA levels later

Trump lowered ‘temperature’ on Minnesota, wants to avoid shutdown: Bessent

Published by Sam Flores

President Donald Trump has “brought down the temperature” on Minnesota, the site of major civil unrest over aggressive federal immigration efforts, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday. Trump is “urging” Congress to take action to avoid triggering a partial government shutdown amid disputes over federal funding for the Department of Homeland Security, Bessent told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” The shutdown could begin at 12:01 a.m. ET on Saturday unless lawmakers come to a resolution on the DHS funding, which a slew of Democrats have rejected in light of the recent killing of nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis. Trump is “in constant contact” with lawmakers “and he is urging them not to shut down the government,” Bessent told CNBC. Bessent spoke as the Trump administration tempers its tone after its harsh initial response to two immigration enforcement-related killings in Minneapolis that stirred waves of outrage from Democrats and even some Republicans. The Cabinet secretary declined to make a prediction about whether a shutdown — the second in less than four months — …