Leading into the meeting of the top G20 finance leaders today and tomorrow in Asheville, North Carolina, Scott Bessent told AP last night some of the Trump Administration dictates he has in mind for the would-be colonial subjects of the new global dictatorship. Specifically he said nations must cut ties with Iran. He also focused on China, who, he ranted, must stop exporting its goods around the world: “The world cannot have a China with a $1.2 trillion trade surplus,” Bessent said. “In China, the economy is quite weak, and they are trying to export their way out of it, and they need to rebalance their economy.”
Bessent told the AP he would speak to his Chinese counterparts at the G20 meeting about Iran, saying, “all options are on the table” in terms of sanctioning Beijing for its continued purchases from Iran. “This is going to be financial violence if we have to,” Bessent said in the interview. “We are showing people that we know who you are, you know who you are, and this has got to stop.”
Bessent also said he is prepared to sanction another bank this week, without naming the target. On Aug. 28 he announced that the first bank to be punished for doing business with Iran was the UAE branch of the second largest bank in Egypt, Banque Misr.
Bessent told Reuters, “The rest of the world is going to have to examine their terms of trade with China.” However this morning, to CNBC, Bessent whistled a different tune, saying the U.S. can implement Operation Economic Outcast against Iran, without the help of China. This tacitly acknowledges that China said repeatedly this week, it will not recognize the U.S. unilateral order.
