US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent voiced frustration Wednesday at the European Union’s trade ties with India, claiming the bloc backed off Russia-related sanctions to ensure finalization of its major deal with New Delhi.
The Europeans “should do what’s best for themselves,” Bessent told CNBC when asked in a televised interview for reaction to the EU-India deal agreed Tuesday.
“But I will tell you… I find the Europeans very disappointing, because the Europeans are on the front line of the Ukraine-Russia war,” he said.
India is buying sanctioned Russian oil, Bessent said, and “guess who was buying the refined products? The Europeans.”
“So the Europeans have been funding the war against themselves,” he said.
After US President Donald Trump hit India with additional tariffs in August over its purchases of Russian oil, Bessent said Europe was “unwilling to join us.”
“And it turns out, because they wanted to do this trade deal,” he said of the agreement.
Decades in the making, the deal will see tariffs cut or eliminated on most European exports, among many other provisions on both sides.
“So every time you hear a European talk about the importance of the Ukrainian people, remember that they put trade ahead of the Ukrainian people,” Bessent said.
He also touched on other important economic issues in Asia, including trade tensions with South Korea and recent volatility in Japan’s currency.
Trump announced on Monday that he would be raising tariffs on South Korea over its failure to enact a trade deal struck last year.
“The South Korean parliament has not passed the trade deal, so there is no trade deal until they ratify it,” he said.
Asked if South Korea would face the tariffs until its parliament codifies the deal, Bessent said: “I think it’s helpful to get things moved along.”
Bessent also dismissed reports that the United States could intervene in the currency market, amid a falling US dollar and high volatility in the Japanese yen.
He said he couldn’t comment further than to say that the “US always has a strong dollar policy.”
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