Latest news with #ScottBessant
India.com
04-07-2025
- Business
- India.com
Punishment for buying oil from Iran, US imposes sanctions on companies of India, Pakistan
New Delhi: The US has imposed sanctions on six companies and several ships involved in oil and petrochemical trade with Iran. These include one firm each from India and Pakistan. This action is part of the US policy under which it is trying to increase economic pressure on Iran. This information was given by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US State Department and the Treasury Department. Which companies have been sanctioned? Alliance Energy Private Limited, based in Lahore, Pakistan and India's Sai Saburi Consulting Services, based in New Delhi, have been sanctioned for their alleged role in the Iranian oil trade. According to OFAC, these companies were part of a network involved in secretly sending Iranian oil and petrochemical products, which violates US sanctions. Why are they sanctioned? These sanctions are part of US President Donald Trump's 'maximum pressure' policy, which aims to reduce Iran's oil exports to zero and limit its nuclear programme, ballistic missile development and regional influence. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant said, 'We will continue to target Iran's sources of revenue and disrupt its access to financial resources that fuel its destabilizing activities.' Pakistan's Alliance Energy Private Limited has already been blacklisted for violating US sanctions. Apart from this, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran and Panama based companies and their operated ships have also been targeted. Sai Saburi Consulting Services is accused of acting as the commercial manager of two LPG tankers, Bateleur and Nile, which were involved in transporting Iranian oil. What is Iran's shadow fleet? The US claims that Iran uses a 'shadow fleet' or 'dark fleet' to maintain its oil exports, which secretly transfer oil and petrochemical products. These ships often hide the origin of the oil through ship-to-ship transfers outside the territorial limits of ports. This type of trade mainly targets countries like China, which is Iran's largest oil buyer. US sanctions on Iran have been in place since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but they intensified after the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018. The main purpose of these sanctions is to stop Iran's nuclear and missile programmes and reduce its support to regional terrorist groups. In recent months, these sanctions have become more stringent after attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities by Israel and the US.
Bloomberg
04-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
US House Passes Tax Bill, Sending It to Trump
CC-Transcript 00:00Eventually we got this. The president had said there was going to be no more negotiations. This was going to be done by the July 4th holiday. It is July 3rd in the afternoon, and at least passage of the bill is now complete. What's next? The next thing is the president plans to sign the legislation tomorrow. And you can bet that there's now going to be a giant message war between Democrats and Republicans over whether this is good for America or bad for America. We already had 8 hours and 35 minutes of Hakeem Jeffries speaking about how this was disgusting, just to use one of the phrases. But he essentially railed against this bill the entire time. What are the most contentious aspects of this bill? So the Democratic case is that this is essentially a Robin Hood in reverse religious legislation that it takes from the poor and gives to the rich. And indeed, a lot of the direct benefits from this book go to wealthy people and companies. And a lot of the safety net cuts will wind up hurting relatively low income Americans. The Republican view is, hey, there's $4.5 trillion in tax cuts here to goose the economy, get growth going, and that growth will ultimately we're down to the benefit of Americans. And in fact, we had Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant on Bloomberg TV just a few minutes ago, just before this bill was passed. And he mentioned that when the CBO was scoring the bill, it didn't even take into account any revenue from tariffs that could ultimately be up to $2 trillion, which would also help to offset some of the costs. I'm curious, how did the president win over holdouts? Because there came a time when there were no more negotiations and still the members of the House Freedom Caucus did seem to fall into line. So there were very strong disagreements on parts of this legislation, some from conservatives and some from moderate. But generally most of the Republicans were very much in favor of the tax cuts and the increases in defense spending and immigration enforcement that are the core of the bill. The disagreements were the fiscal conservatives often felt like, hey, this is going to add more than $3 trillion to the deficit. That's a lot of money. We want to see more spending cuts on the moderate side from Republicans. People who are vulnerable to challenges in swing districts were saying, hey, we're going to cut $1,000,000,000,000 from Medicaid. This is going to wind up hurting people and costing us in the election. So you had one camp saying we want to cut more spending and the other camp saying, hey, you're cutting too much. But at the end of the day, they wanted these tax cuts. President Trump has huge sway over the Republican Party. This is the one piece of legislation he wants. He cranked up the pressure and they more or less agree with the main pillars of it. Should we expect executive orders or anything like that? Was anything promised in the background that might appear over the next two weeks, two months? So there were these discussions with the fiscal conservatives in which they received reassurances about executive action. Now, they haven't detailed exactly what those promises are, so we don't know exactly. But for instance, one of them was talking about the president's going to take a very hard line on clean energy permitting and things to make sure that there aren't too many clean energy projects that became eligible for clean energy tax credits before they expire in about a year or so, particularly for wind and solar installations. There were also received assurances. So they say that the Medicaid stuff will be stringently enforced and consequently reduce Medicaid spending as much as possible. But we haven't heard that from the president and we haven't gotten, you know, very clear examples of that. And then, you know, it depends on what he actually does. Well, exactly, Mike. And to that point is this now peak Trump. Will his supporters, the MAGA supporters, see any benefits or any portions of them see any benefit from this bill immediately? And if not, what does it mean for the midterms? Well, there were a lot of the things that appeal to populists were front loaded in the beginning of the bill. So, for instance, elderly Americans will get a bigger standard deduction on their income taxes. Workers who get tips or overtime pay will get it for the next four years. A portion of that pay exempted from taxes for a lot of Americans with families. There'll be an increase in the maximum child tax credit. So there are some tangible things that help. The sort of rank and file Trump voters, and they will come early. The spending cuts will be backloaded more.
News.com.au
18-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
PM Albanese claws back US meeting after Donald Trump's early G7 departure
Anthony Albanese has managed to meet some senior Americans at the G7 in Canada – even if it's not Donald Trump himself. On Tuesday morning, hours after the US president left the G7 venue at Kananaskis in The Rocky Mountains for Washington DC, Mr Albanese teed up plan B US meeting a powwow with US treasury secretary Scott Bessant, the most senior American that remained at the G7 summit. However, in what looks like an example of Mr Trump valuing relationships with other nations above Australia, it's been confirmed the US president spoke at least on the phone to a leader whose G7 meeting he additionally missed due to his early departure. Mr Albanese is now 'considering' attending the NATO summit in Europe next week which could lead to a meeting with Mr Trump. Also at the summit, Australia announced further sanctions on Russia's 'shadow fleet' of ships that are designed to avoid sanctions on oil exports. Australia will also start negotiations with the European Union on a security and defence partnership. Trump calls leader he snubbed, not Albo On Tuesday, local time, The White House has confirmed that Mr Trump and Mexico's president Claudia Sheinbaum had a phone call. Mr Trump had been expected to meet Ms Sheinbaum at the G7, but like Mr Albanese that meeting was cancelled. Asked by if he would appreciate a phone call from Mr Trump, as Ms Sheinbaum had received, the PM said he 'wasn't driven by issues like that'. 'There's important things happening and (Mr Trump's departure) is understandable. 'I'm mature about things like that'. Mr Trump's departure from Canada, after just one day of the two day summit, was undoubtedly a blow for the PM. While he may not have relished meeting with the mercurial Mr Trump, Australia also had issues to discuss: from the AUKUS defence deal to tariffs. Besides, Mr Albanese has never met Mr Trump in person and that lack of face time is becoming somewhat awkward. The PM told reporters that there was no date set to meet Mr Trump. 'Meetings are rescheduled, that's what happens,' he said. Mr Albanese meUS treasury secretary Mr Bessant and, separately with Australia's US ambassador Kevin Rudd, US trade representative Jamieson Greer and the director of the US National Economic Council Kevin Haslett. The meetings were said to be 'cordial' and, given the people involved, focused on trade including tariffs. But such is the current White House, that nations can have as many meetings as they want with US officials, however it's only Mr Trump that really matters and who makes the decisions. In addition, a meeting with trade officials is fine but it will have meant no discussions were had with the US on AUKUS. Mr Trump may have scarpered but the G7 went on regardless with Mr Albanese having multiple meetings with world leaders including those from Germany, Japan, the UK, the European Union and France. Mr Albanese also took part in the extended G7 'family photo'. The leaders of the seven core countries – with Mr Trump in tow – did their snap yesterday. On Tuesday, a Trump-less G7 added Narendra Modi of India, Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Ukraine's Mr Zelensky and, of course, Mr Albanese to an additional photo. After the picture was taken, the PM was seen warmly embracing Mr Zelensky. They may have both commiserated one another of their missed meetings with Mr Trump. German Chancellor Merz offered to grease the wheels of trade in his meeting with Australia. 'I want to thank you for your support for the free trade agreement we are trying to get done with the European Union. It's very important,' Mr Albanese said to the Chancellor. 'Is there anything what we can do, or I can do to speed it up a little bit?' said Mr Merz, unexpectedly. 'Well, we're very keen,' Mr Albanese said excitedly. The PM also met with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba who said Australia 'set an example'. The world was 'becoming more complex,' said Mr Ishiba referring to conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. 'Everything is connected in the world. 'And under such circumstances, I think Japan-Australia, co-ordination really continues to set an example of what a like-minded country's co-operation is and going forward together. 'I would like to make sure that a free and open Pacific will be realised.'
Spectator
12-05-2025
- Business
- Spectator
China has won the trade war with Trump
This weekend, the United States struck a deal with China that will see American tariffs on Beijing's exports come back down to manageable levels again, while China will lower its levies on imports from the US. The giant container ports on both sides of the Pacific can now be re-opened. The factories across China can get back to work, and Wal-Mart and Target can start placing orders again. The global economy can start moving once more – but significantly, it will very quickly become clear who has won the tariff war: China. The deal that was announced this morning in Switzerland, where negotiations took place, by the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant appears very simple. The US will reduce its tariffs on Chinese imports from 145 per cent to 30 per cent, while China will cut its from 125 per cent to just 10 per cent. For now, it is just a 90-day pause, but it already looks likely that over the next three months a more permanent agreement will be worked out.
Business Insider
08-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
We went to Milken, where the panels were packed with cautious warnings, but the parties were extravagant
If you closed your eyes and only listened to the panels at this year's Milken Global Conference, you'd think the country was on the verge of a recession. One of the most common words spoken by executives and investors was "uncertainty." Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant's speech — not Peyton Manning or Tony Blair or Henry Kravis — was the hottest ticket in town, with attendees lining up an hour out for his opening remarks. Pessimism about the US was so high that professional investors are actually looking to put money to work in Europe, long ignored by American firms due to the continent's slow growth relative to US companies. "The brand is definitely tarnished now," said State Street CEO Ron O'Hanley, echoing comments made by Citadel founder Ken Griffin and Apollo CEO Marc Rowan. "The real question is whether this is permanent," said O'Hanley, whose firm manages $4.7 trillion, on a panel about the macro environment. The " animal spirits" energy radiating off the investor class and C-suites in Davos was nowhere to be found on the Milken stages in Beverly Hills, thanks to President Donald Trump's tariff policies, which have upended global equity and bond markets. "The mood was unbelievably optimistic" in Switzerland, said Katie Koch, the CEO of $195 billion credit investment manager TCW, while sitting next to O'Hanley onstage, but it's "the opposite now." The gloom onstage didn't impact the mood The Beverly Hilton was packed with upward of 5,000 attendees this year, the conference's biggest showing since 2019, despite ticket prices starting at $25,000 a piece. Lines snaked around the lobby to see other top speakers like Jessica Alba — even tennis star Novak Djokovic was seen waiting to get in. Attendees competed not only for seats, but who could land invitations to the most coveted after parties, held at members-only Bird Streets Club, or restaurants like Funke, Cipriani, and AOC. One of the hardest invitations to get was a dinner with Bessent Sunday night. Walking around the ritzy Beverly Hills hotel, speaking with attendees in the conference's wellness garden (featuring puppy playtime and "nervous system reset" chairs) or at the numerous after-parties hosted by banks and private equity giants, the mood was much more positive. "This isn't the type of food you'd see at a reception during a recession," one partygoer said Monday evening, as a platter of tuna tartare passed by. The individual, who has been investing in private markets for decades, said he isn't worried about the economy until after parties put a limit on the number of drinks each person can get from the bar. People were encouraged by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's comments tying the tariffs to deregulation and tax cuts. While many asset managers are not deploying capital, they're still fundraising, and meetings with representatives from Middle East sovereign wealth funds were some of the toughest to get. Once he was done speaking on panel, Saudi's minister of investment Khalid Al-Falih was swarmed by attendees Monday afternoon. There is also still plenty of optimism around tech and the promise of AI, with self-driving Waymo cars dropping off many attendees and a fridge-sized box in the lobby allowing passersby the chance to speak with a hologram of conference host Michael Milken in several languages. Elon Musk, who was a popular headliner last year, chose to stay behind closed doors this year, giving an interview to Milken in front of an invite-only crowd Sunday, according to someone who attended. Milken also interviewed Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Tuesday in front of a packed audience. At a party held Sunday at billionaire Nicolas Berggruen's Beverly Hills mansion to celebrate the fifth anniversary of his tech philosophy magazine, Noema, interpretive dancers performed by the pool before journalist Kara Swisher hosted a debate on whether AI makes us more human. Perhaps one of the best metaphors for the mixed signals at the elite gathering might be the bougie boxed lunches given out each day to the thousands of attendees: An ostensibly austere offering that contained more luxurious options inside, such as salmon with tabbouleh and chocolate mousse. The US, it seems, is still a hard habit for many investors to kick. In the same breath that deep-pocketed panelists would criticize trade policies or talk up international opportunities, they'd mention the overwhelming size of the country's capital markets or innovative culture. Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato, a dual citizen of the US and Spain, paraphrased a Winston Churchill quote to describe businesses' thinking on the future of the world's largest economy: "Americans always do the right thing, after trying everything else."
