PNN – The US Treasury Secretary announced the goal of the Washington government for more sanctions against Russia and emphasized that the sanctions against Chinese banks involved in Moscow’s war efforts will not be abandoned either.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network from Reuters, the US Treasury Secretary told this news agency yesterday: Considering the American goal to reduce Russia’s oil revenues and prevent its access to foreign resources to advance the war in Ukraine, the United States is looking for more sanctions on the “dark fleet” and will not abandon the sanctions on Chinese banks.
In this interview, he emphasized that Washington and its allies can also consider the possibility of lowering the price ceiling set for the sale of Russian oil, which is $60, in order to ban insurance and marine services for shipments above this level.
Yellen added: The US Treasury Department has already sanctioned private oil tankers and their owners for operating above the set price ceiling and is still able to take more measures in this regard.
The US official then outlined the options ahead for further sanctions: We always look at oil revenues and find ways to hit that part of Russia’s revenues if we can.
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Bank of China concerns
In this interview, the US Treasury Secretary also announced the conversation with his Chinese counterparts about efforts to identify the activities of financial institutions involved in circumventing Russian sanctions and war efforts and noted: I do not at all rule out the possibility that we would not sanction a Chinese bank if we had the necessary evidence to sanction it.
He stressed: Warnings to China’s biggest banks have been successful, and they are much more cautious about sanctions that would cut off dollar-based transactions.
Reuters noted that nearly a year ago, Biden authorized the Treasury Department in an executive order to impose secondary sanctions against financial institutions involved in facilitating Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Yellen’s warning to Trump’s team about interfering in banking regulations
In another part of his interview with the Reuters news agency, this official of the Biden administration asked the Trump team to refrain from interfering in what he called very important appropriate regulations on capital levels, liquidity and risk-taking of American banks.
Yellen emphasized that although the current US regulatory system is not perfect, we should find a way to reduce the burden on the oversight department instead of interfering.
He also warned against taking extremist steps in the field of monitoring the current system and said: I don’t want to say that what we have now is completely sacred and should not be touched, but I don’t think it is out of order either.
This news agency adds: It seems that the statements of this official of the current American Democratic government are due to the prospect of radical changes that are going to be implemented in the coming weeks and with Trump’s return to power at all levels.
“We’ve seen what happens when banks are improperly supervised,” Yellen then said, referring to the unexpected failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March 2023 and others before that.