He referred to the growing tension in trade relations with Russia, as well as plans to introduce duties reaching up to 100 percent. for importing raw materials from countries that will not stop purchasing Russian oil. “President Trump has changed the paradigm here himself (…). It is assumed that every country that buys Russian oil covered by sanctions will be subject to additional customs tariffs, reaching up to 100 percent.” – Bessent explained, emphasizing that the US Senate supports this approach and treats duties as “Political tool, which is revolutionary”.
The head of the Ministry of Finance also announced that in conversations with China he would raise the topic of their energy cooperation with Russia and Iran. “In the very near future” consultations on this matter are to begin.
The union is surprised by new conditions
In an interview, Bessent also commented on difficult trade negotiations with the European Union. He referred to the reports of “Wall Street Journal”, according to which President Trump was recently to present the EU new, more demanding conditions of the contract, breaking with an earlier consensus assuming to maintain 10 % duties. This, as the newspaper reports, was to surprise EU officials and induce them to consider retaliation duties. Additionally, “After the last return, Germany came to the group of pressing hard attitude in conversations” “WSJ” said.
Bessent warned that the escalation of the EU commercial dispute may prove to be more expensive for the European side. “We have a gigantic EU trade deficit, so when it comes to this level of duties, it will have a greater impact on them” – he said. In his opinion, this pressure may lead the Union to accelerate conversations. At the same time, he noticed that negotiations are difficult due to the community structure. “It is 27 different countries, and this is imposed (architecture) of the EU. So we have this supranational organization that negotiations. However, I think that some governments (EU countries) are frustrated at the rate of negotiations” – he noted.
The threat of new tariffs is getting closer
According to the new US proposal, duties on goods from the EU would increase to 15 percent.and in the case of no agreement to 30 percent from August 1.
