Scott Bessent Warns Europe To ‘Put Up Or Shut Up’ With Its Sanctions Policy On Russia

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday reportedly issued a warning to Europe to get on with the program on its sanctions policy on Russia, and the application of secondary tariffs on those buying Russian energy, including countries like China and India.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Bessent said sanctions on Russia could either be tightened or loosened, depending on how President Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday goes.

“The Europeans need to join us in these sanctions. They need to,” Bessent stressed, adding that the Trump administration could use the stick of secondary tariffs as well, as it has shown in the case of India, according to the report. “We put secondary tariffs on the Indians for buying Russian oil. And I could see if things don’t go well, then sanctions or secondary tariffs could go up,” he said.

Bessent was referring to the 25% tariffs imposed by President Trump on India for importing Russian crude oil, which stacked on top of 25% base levies.

Earlier on Wednesday, President Trump said he would speak to European leaders ahead of his Friday meeting with President Putin.

Meanwhile, U.S. equities rose in Wednesday’s morning session. At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was up 0.18%, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) gained 0.06%. Retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF on Stocktwits was in the ‘neutral’ territory.

Also See: Trump Says He Will Speak To European Leaders Ahead Of Summit With Putin Over Ukraine Conflict

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.