Tag: Bessent, Scott

The Heat on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Grows

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Andrew here. Wowsers. Wall Street is buzzing about an opinion essay in The Wall Street Journal by Stanley Druckenmiller, a billionaire investor. Druckenmiller criticized Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s bond buyback plan, calling it a mistake — and, worse, suggesting it’s a stab at manipulating the bond market. Remember that Druckenmiller more recently employed Kevin Warsh, now the Fed chairman, who has argued that the government should intervene less in markets, not more. Read more below. The risks of Bessent’s multifront war Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has spent much of August…

Russia Bill Broadens Sanctions but Could Fuel Fears Over the Dollar

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A Russia sanctions bill is posing a dilemma for the Trump administration: Lawmakers are pushing to wage further financial warfare just as the administration worries that heavy use of sanctions may erode the U.S. dollar’s supremacy. The bill, which was the brainchild of Senator Lindsey Graham before his death, aims to impose mandatory sanctions on Russia and its allies and potentially broaden the reach of penalties to include tariffs on buyers of Russian energy. The White House has said that the scope of the sanctions could broaden to include Iran…

America Was Being Played. The Bessent Doctrine Says Those Days Are Over.

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent delivered a remarkably important speech on June 23 at the Economic Club of New York. Yet neither Wall Street nor most of the economic profession seems to have paid it enough attention. By laying out what until now seemed more like haphazard policy measures, Mr. Bessent put down a marker for how the United States plans to operate in a changing global economic system. In the process, he elevated both the scale and the scope of a systemic change that started in earnest during President Trump’s…

How the U.S. Is Trying to Ensure the Dollar’s Dominance During Economic Turmoil

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The summit between President Trump and China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, in Beijing this week is likely to include tense discussions about tariffs, Taiwan, Iran and sanctions. But simmering below the surface is another battle between the United States and China: an intensifying currency war. Concerns about America’s mounting debt load and its aggressive use of sanctions to cut adversaries off from the Western financial system have raised doubts about the safety of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Those fears have led to growing demand for gold and…

U.S. Warns China Over Iranian Oil as Sanctions Fight Intensifies

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The United States on Monday urged China to push Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz and said that its purchases of Iranian oil amounted to funding global terrorism, delivering a stern rebuke ahead of President Trump’s meeting in Beijing this month with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping. The warning came from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who will be participating in the high-stakes meetings. Mr. Bessent has been leading an aggressive campaign to cripple Iran’s economy with a blitz of new sanctions. He has also been working to devise ways…

Treasury Issues More Sanctions on Iranian Oil Exports

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The Trump administration on Tuesday ratcheted up economic pressure on Iran, warning financial institutions not to allow independent Chinese refineries to buy Iranian oil and cracking down on Iran’s “shadow” banking sector. The measures were the latest actions taken as part of the Treasury Department’s “Operation Economic Fury,” which aims to cripple Iran’s economy and compel it to agree to a peace deal with the United States. After easing sanctions on Iran last month in hopes of keeping oil flowing on global markets, the Trump administration reversed course in recent…