Scott Bessent

Driving an expanded Iran sanctions enforcement campaign under NSPM-2

Treasury just hit Iran's oil-smuggling "shadow fleet" where it actually hurts: the ships. On December 18, 2025, OFAC blocked 29 vessels and a web of managers and front-company operators that keep Iranian oil moving when the paperwork is fake and the GPS goes dark.

Updated Yesterday

Led first Russia sanctions action of Trump's second term with Rosneft/Lukoil designations in October 2025

Sanctions are supposed to close doors. On December 17, the U.S. quietly propped two doors back open again, even as it slammed others shut. One narrow lane keeps Sakhalin-2 crude flowing to Japan; the other preserves financial channels for civil nuclear projects, even when payments touch sanctioned Russian banks—both running through June 18, 2026.

Updated Yesterday

Leading Treasury’s cartel-focused sanctions push

Treasury sanctioned the Cartel de Santa Rosa de Lima (CSRL) and its jailed leader José Antonio Yépez Ortiz ("El Marro") on December 17, 2025. Washington's campaign against huachicol money then shifted toward the infrastructure that makes stolen hydrocarbons tradable: shipping, routing, and due diligence.

Updated Yesterday

Expanded financial pressure with new Venezuela-linked designations and a Citgo-related licensing move that intersects with creditor litigation and asset-sale proceedings.

Trump's Venezuela "blockade" threat is now backed by policy. Washington has added new Venezuela-linked sanctions and also targeted Iran's shadow-fleet network. Together, these expand the pool of already-sanctioned vessels that the U.S. Navy could board if they try to trade with Venezuela.

Updated Yesterday

Leading U.S. delegation at Seoul pre-summit trade talks with He Lifeng

The legal foundation for Trump's tariff strategy collapsed on February 20 when the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs. The decision voided both the 25% Iran secondary levy and other emergency-based duties on China. Trump signed a 10% global replacement under Section 122 of the Trade Act within hours, dropping China's effective rate from 47% to about 35%.

Updated 5 days ago

Leads implementation of sanctions and waivers governing Lukoil’s asset sales

First the US froze Lukoil's assets. Now it's effectively forcing Russia's biggest private oil company to auction off its global business. A fresh Treasury waiver gives buyers until January 17, 2026 to lock in deals for oilfields, refineries and thousands of gas stations worth about $22 billion.

Updated 6 days ago

Key player in tariff strategy and financing of farm aid; recently divested a large soybean farm

Since 2018, U.S. farmers have been caught in Trump-era tariff battles—first the U.S.–China trade war, now tariffs on China, Canada, Mexico, and others. To counter lost exports and depressed prices, the Trump administrations funded large farm aid through the Agriculture Department's Commodity Credit Corporation: $12 billion in 2018, $16 billion in 2019.

Updated 6 days ago

Under sustained ethics scrutiny; has now divested North Dakota farmland but faces questions about earlier decisions

Scott Bessent became Treasury Secretary in January 2025. An ethics agreement required him to sell substantial holdings, including up to $25 million in North Dakota soybean and corn farmland that earned as much as $1 million a year in rent. After months of delays, the Office of Government Ethics warned him in August 2025 that he'd failed to comply on time.

Updated 6 days ago

Advocating a deregulatory shift and a reevaluation of FSOC’s post-crisis approach as leveraged-lending guardrails are rolled back

In March 2013, U.S. bank regulators issued joint supervisory guidance on leveraged lending to prevent a return of pre-2008-style underwriting excesses, with examiners informally anchoring scrutiny around a roughly six-times-EBITDA leverage benchmark. Over the next decade, banks' pullback shifted riskier deal finance toward private-credit funds, CLOs, and other nonbanks—expanding an opaque "shadow banking" ecosystem even as regulators maintained the guidance was supervisory, not a binding rule.

Updated 7 days ago

Swap line discussions advancing as Fed chair nominee Warsh signals executive-branch influence over Fed's international policy role

The United Arab Emirates joined OPEC in 1967, when crude sold for under $2 a barrel. On May 1, 2026, after fifty-nine years, it walks out—taking roughly 13% of OPEC's production capacity, according to the International Energy Agency. Officials cite quotas that capped UAE output near 3.2 million barrels a day despite physical capacity at Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) closer to 5 million. The exit is the largest single departure since Angola left in 2024, and it reshapes the strategic balance between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

Updated Apr 30

Tasked with implementing TrumpIRA.gov and Saver's Match guidance

In January 2027, the federal government will start depositing up to $1,000 a year into the retirement accounts of lower-income workers. There is a problem: roughly 27 million of the workers who qualify do not have an account to put it in.

Updated Apr 30

Co-convened emergency meeting with bank chief executives over Mythos risks

An AI model that can find software flaws no human has caught in nearly three decades has triggered a coordinated response from central banks across the Western world. Anthropic's Claude Mythos Preview, which the company says discovered thousands of previously unknown vulnerabilities in every major operating system and web browser, prompted the US Treasury and Federal Reserve to summon Wall Street chief executives to Washington on April 8. By April 11, the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada, and their respective financial regulators had convened or scheduled their own emergency sessions with banks.

Updated Apr 11

Absorbing student loan operations into Treasury

The federal government has managed student loans from the same place for decades: the Education Department's Federal Student Aid office. On March 19, the Treasury Department began absorbing that function — starting with $180 billion in defaulted loans held by 9.2 million borrowers, with plans to eventually take over the entire $1.7 trillion portfolio and the financial aid application that 17 million students complete each year.

Updated Mar 20

Serving as 79th Treasury Secretary

John Hurley served eight months as the Treasury Department's chief sanctions enforcer before resigning amid friction with Secretary Scott Bessent. His February 25 departure followed months of internal clashes over sanctions aggressiveness and a specific dispute regarding federal surveillance of financial transactions involving Minnesota's Somali community, to which Hurley objected on data-privacy grounds.

Updated Mar 19

Balancing sanctions enforcement with short‑term relief measures, including consideration of easing some Russian oil sanctions to counter war‑related supply shocks.

The Group of Seven industrialized nations and their allies have tried since late 2022 to curb Russia’s oil income by capping the price of its seaborne crude, using their dominance in shipping and insurance to keep barrels flowing while limiting revenue for the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine. In February 2026, the European Union and United Kingdom began enforcing a reduced cap of 44.10 dollars per barrel under a dynamic mechanism that adjusts every 22 weeks to stay 15% below average market prices for Russia’s Urals crude, but the United States has so far kept its own 60‑dollar ceiling in place.

Updated Mar 7

Active in trade negotiations

India has been the world's second-largest buyer of Russian oil since 2022, snapping up discounted crude while Western nations sanctioned Moscow. On February 2, 2026, President Donald Trump announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to stop those purchases entirely in exchange for American tariff cuts from 50% to 18%, ending a trade war that had escalated for nearly a year. A US-India Joint Statement released around February 6-9 outlined an Interim Trade Agreement framework, confirming India's intent to purchase $500 billion in US energy, technology, aircraft, and coal over five years; tariff reductions/eliminations on US goods; and US suspension of the additional 25% Russian oil tariff effective February 7 via Executive Order. However, Modi has publicly confirmed only the tariff reduction, Indian refiners received no instructions to halt imports, and the deal lacks full binding enforcement amid shadow logistics risks.

Updated Feb 11

Serving as Treasury Secretary since January 2025

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's February 2026 congressional testimony shattered norms of Treasury oversight: two days of shouting matches with House Democrats (Maxine Waters asking to 'shut him up,' Gregory Meeks calling him a 'flunky'), followed by heated Senate Banking Committee exchanges where Democratic Senator Jack Reed called his conduct 'childish' and Senator Elizabeth Warren pressed him on whether Fed nominee Kevin Warsh would face investigations if interest rates aren't cut as Trump demands. Bessent refused to clarify, prompting Warren to call the situation 'an even taller steaming pile of corruption.' The hearings devolved into what one former Treasury official called a role 'you typically don't see a treasury secretary play.'

Updated Feb 5

Expressed opposition to Powell investigation internally

On January 30, 2026, President Trump nominated former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh to succeed Jerome Powell as Fed Chair when his term expires in May. Markets reacted violently: gold, which had surged to a record $5,626 per ounce amid the constitutional crisis over Powell's criminal investigation, plunged 11% in hours as investors bet Warsh would preserve central bank independence. Silver crashed 30% in its worst day since 1980. The dollar index spiked to 97.14, recovering from multi-year lows below 96. However, by February 3-5, gold rebounded to $5,070 as investors reassessed the confirmation timeline and Powell investigation trajectory. The rally began January 26 when gold broke $5,000 for the first time, driven by the unprecedented DOJ grand jury subpoenas served January 9 over Powell's congressional testimony about a $2.5 billion headquarters renovation.

Updated Feb 5

Lead U.S. negotiator on China trade

In April 2025, U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods peaked at 145 percent. Nine months later, President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping describe their relationship as 'extremely good' and are planning four bilateral summits in 2026, including Trump's first visit to Beijing since 2017.

Updated Feb 5

Currently serving dual role after Billy Long's removal

The Internal Revenue Service opened the 2026 tax filing season on January 26 with the first implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Signed on July 4, 2025, the sweeping tax law permanently extends the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions that were set to expire in December 2025, while adding new deductions for tips, overtime pay, car loan interest, and an enhanced deduction for seniors. Taxpayers will encounter a new form—Schedule 1-A—to claim these benefits, and employers are navigating updated W-2 reporting requirements that separately track qualified overtime and tips.

Updated Jan 31

Leading Trump Accounts rollout

The United States has never offered universal investment accounts to children. Starting July 4, 2026, every American born between 2025 and 2028 will receive $1,000 from the Treasury Department deposited into a stock market index fund—accessible at age 18 for education, homebuying, or starting a business. Over 1 million families enrolled in the program's first week.

Updated Jan 31

Publicly criticized EU-India trade deal

India and the European Union became strategic partners in 2004. Twenty-one years later, at the 16th EU-India Summit on January 27, 2026, they signed a Security and Defence Partnership that makes India the third Asian country—after Japan and South Korea—to gain formal access to European defence initiatives. The two sides also concluded negotiations on a historic free trade agreement covering 2 billion people and representing a combined market of $27 trillion. Once the FTA completes legal vetting and enters force in 2027, Indian firms will be able to participate in the EU's €150 billion SAFE rearmament programme.

Updated Jan 30

Privately opposed to Powell investigation

No president has ever criminally investigated a sitting Federal Reserve chair. When Trump's Justice Department served Jerome Powell with grand jury subpoenas on January 11, two Republican senators announced they would block all Fed nominees until the probe ends. With a 13-11 GOP majority on the Banking Committee, even one defection creates a confirmation stalemate.

Updated Jan 28

Defending Trump's Greenland approach at Davos

The United States has operated military bases in Greenland since 1941, under agreements with Denmark. On January 15, 2026, NATO allies deployed troops to the island to counter U.S. pressure after American-Danish talks collapsed. On January 17, President Trump announced 10% tariffs on eight European countries—Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom—rising to 25% by June unless 'a deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.' On January 20, Trump declared on Truth Social that 'there can be no going back' on Greenland, calling it 'imperative for National and World Security.' That same day, Denmark deployed its Army Chief, General Peter Boysen, alongside 58 additional troops to Greenland, bringing total Danish military presence to approximately 178 personnel for Operation Arctic Endurance.

Updated Jan 21

Announced sanctions on Iranian officials

On December 28, shopkeepers in Tehran's Grand Bazaar closed their stalls and took to the streets. The Iranian rial had just hit 1.4 million to the dollar—double its value from a year earlier. Within days, the protests spread to all 31 provinces, evolved from economic grievances into demands for regime change, and drew comparisons to the 1979 revolution that brought the Islamic Republic to power.

Updated Jan 20

Leading search for Powell's replacement; expects announcement in January 2026

For the fifth consecutive year, U.S. inflation will finish above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. December's CPI report showed prices rising 2.7% year-over-year—unchanged from November and 0.7 percentage points above the Fed's goal. Core inflation came in at 2.6%, slightly below forecasts. The data confirms what markets already expected: no rate cut at the January 27-28 FOMC meeting, where the Fed will also release updated economic projections.

Updated Jan 15

Overseeing FinCEN's review and potential revision of investment adviser AML rule

FinCEN just delayed anti-money laundering rules for investment advisers by two years, pushing compliance from January 2026 to January 2028. It's the fourth time since 2002 that federal regulators have tried—and struggled—to close what transparency advocates call a $125 trillion loophole that sanctioned Russian oligarchs, corrupt foreign officials, and fraudsters exploit to access U.S. markets. The rule would force 15,000 advisory firms to implement the same suspicious activity reporting that banks face.

Updated Jan 2