Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent said he would support hiking sanctions against Russia if President-elect Donald Trump directs him to do so and accused President Joe Biden of playing politics on sanction policy.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) asked Bessent about the sanctions Thursday during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. Bessent said he has no qualms about further tightening sanctions against Russia and Russian energy products if Trump is in favor of doing so.
“If any officials in the Russian Federation are watching this confirmation hearing, they should know that if I’m confirmed, and if President Trump requests as part of his strategy to end the Ukraine war, I will be 100% on board for taking sanctions up, especially on the Russian oil majors, to levels that would bring the Russian Federation to the table,” Bessent said.
Bessent blamed Biden for not raising sanctions enough and accused him of failing to punish Russia because he did not want voters to experience higher energy prices in the lead-up to the election.
“The sanctions were not fulsome enough,” Bessent said. “I believe that … the previous administration was worried about raising U.S. energy prices during an election season. I’m perplexed to see that national security adviser [Jake] Sullivan, on his way out the door, is raising the sanctions level on Russian oil companies, and, indeed, the oil prices in the U.S. are up about 9% this month.”
Warner thanked Bessent for his response and said it is “important that we don’t take these tools out of the toolkit.”
“I very much appreciate your willingness, and I hope you will be an advocate for keeping those sanctions on and actually advancing them even further,” Warner added.
Ukraine has been at war with Russia since the latter invaded the former in 2022. The United States, under Biden, has provided Ukraine with military assistance and funding while pushing back on Russia through the use of sanctions. Most notably, the U.S. has led a coalition to impose a cap on the price of oil that Russia sells internationally, an effort that has mixed success over the years.
Trump has vowed to seek a quick resolution to the war in Ukraine. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, said the incoming Trump administration would seek a “realistic” deal even at the cost of Ukraine forgoing territory to Russia.
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Bessent, 62, is a well-known hedge fund manager who founded the New York-based investment firm Key Square Group.
If confirmed, Bessent would ascend to one of the most powerful Cabinet positions at the White House, overseeing the country’s fiscal and economic policy. Bessent will be tasked with implementing Trump’s economic agenda, which includes a ramp-up in tariffs and further tax cuts.