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The United States should increase sanctions on Russian oil producers to force Moscow to negotiate with Ukraine, Scott Besent said, as he criticized the Biden administration for not getting tougher on Vladimir Putin's regime.
The comments made by Donald Trump's nominee for Treasury Secretary were lifted on Thursday Oil pricesWith traders thinking about the possibility of shrinking global crude oil supplies. The new administration is also expected to target Iranian and Venezuelan oil with tougher sanctions as Trump seeks to increase economic pressure on US adversaries.
He added: “As part of (Trump's) strategy to end the war in Ukraine, I would be 100% supportive of lifting sanctions, especially on major Russian oil companies, to levels that would bring the Russian Federation to the table.” Bessent He told senators.
He claimed that US sanctions on Russian energy “were not strict enough” because “the previous administration was concerned about raising prices during the election season.”
The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose by more than a dollar after Besant's statements to more than $81 per barrel.
His statements came during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill four days ago Trump Trump returns to the White House with a plan to implement sweeping tax cuts, increase tariffs and roll back tough regulations, in a major shift from the outgoing Biden administration.
US stocks have risen since Trump's election victory on November 5, while Wall Street has embraced his agenda, with the heads of the world's largest banks – who reported huge profits this week – saying optimism about the new administration's economic plans has unleashed “instincts… Animalism.”
However, executives at major banks who spoke this week warned that Trump's threats to impose sweeping tariffs may be inflationary.
The billionaire hedge fund boss used his questioning by the Senate Finance Committee — which must approve his nomination before it can be voted on by the full chamber — to defend those plans.
Although he did not provide new details, Besant said Trump would use tariffs to address unfair trade practices, increase US government revenues, and strike deals with other countries.
Picent also said he would push China to buy more U.S. agricultural products, such as corn and soybeans, under the terms of the purchase deal that Trump negotiated with Beijing to ease trade tensions during the Republican leader's first administration. He added that Trump will continue to aggressively enforce export controls on American goods destined for China.
“We have to have a very rigorous vetting process for anything that can be used in artificial intelligence, in quantum computing and surveillance, in chips,” he said.
Besant also stressed his support for extending Trump's tax cuts beyond their expiration at the end of the year, saying it is “the most important economic issue today.”
Failure to extend the cuts to people and businesses, which Trump introduced in 2017, would spell “economic disaster” for the United States, “and as is always the case with financial instability, that falls on the middle and working class.” A fierce political battle over tax policy is expected to dominate Congress this year.
Regarding the economic outlook, Besant said he believes inflation will continue to approach the Federal Reserve's 2 percent target, and insisted that the Trump administration will respect the central bank's independence in monetary policy.
But he warned that the US Treasury would find it difficult to use its “borrowing capacity” in times of crisis due to the deteriorating financial situation in America.
“I'm concerned because the U.S. Treasury Department has been called upon many times to save the nation, whether it's the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War II, or the recent COVID pandemic,” Bessent said.
“With what we have now, it will be difficult for us to do the same,” he added.
