Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained on Meet the Press “The Europeans tell me, ‘Oh, we’re doing our 19th sanctions package.’ In my line Kristen, if you’re going to do something 19 times, you failed,” Bessent said on the Sunday show. “Instead, President Trump will move forward with a bold initiative that the Europeans would not follow us on. He put a 25 percent tariff on India because they were buying Russian oil.
On Monday, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced it would remove eight persons from its sanctions list.
Bessent said, “They were funding the war on themselves,” noting that Europeans were buying oil from Indian refineries that they refused to tariff.
Undersecretary of the Treasury John Hurley on Monday said that the Treasury Department is no longer issuing sanctions for the purpose of “political posturing.”
“The Biden administration issued a large number of sanctions often without a clear strategic purpose. Under President Trump and Secretary Bessent’s leadership, no longer are we issuing sanctions for the purpose of political posturing. Treasury is focused on sanctions that are financially and economically effective and that advance defined national security objectives,” Hurley told Breitbart News in a written statement.
“We will also continue to remove sanctions when applicable and consistent with the law after a thorough review. The goal is simple: To ensure our sanctions are impactful, lawful, and aligned with President Trump’s agenda,” he added.
OFAC removed eight persons from the sanctions list, which includes five individuals and three entities. Three individuals on the list had resigned from their prior roles and severed their relationships with Russian financier Alisher Burhanovich Usmanov.
The Biden administration, along with the United Kingdom, sanctioned Usmanov, one of Russia’s wealthiest billionaires, and his network.
A Treasury spokesperson said that these removals are not indicative of any shifts in American policy towards Russia, and the removals are part of a monthslong review process. The spokesperson said that OFAC not only has the ability to sanction individuals but must remain willing to remove them from the list consistent with federal law.
