Overview
- At the two‑day G20 finance meeting in Asheville, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pressed counterparts to escalate Operation Economic Outcast and warned that additional secondary sanctions, including on another bank, are coming.
- China remained the main holdout on tighter measures because it still buys large volumes of Iranian oil and Washington has warned that all options could be used to curb those purchases.
- Bessent held a bilateral meeting with Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and told him there would be no sanctions relief or new agreements while the war in Ukraine continues, a stance that drew protest from several European ministers over Moscow’s presence.
- Officials at the meeting raised alarm about U.S. fiscal risks after public debt topped $40 trillion, and markets have shown higher long‑term Treasury yields despite recent Treasury actions such as a July yen operation and plans for larger bond buybacks.
- European officials signaled they are ready to cooperate with U.S. enforcement while Treasury officials prepare further steps that could target banks, crypto platforms, shipping and gold channels and risk restricting dollar access for noncompliant actors.