The Secretary of the Treasury says that we and the EU must associate to “collapse” the Russian economy

Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that the United States was open to a partnership with European countries to impose more sanctions on countries that buy Russian oil in order to “collapse” from the Russian economy and have dismissed the concerns that the United States entered into a recession.

“We are ready to increase the pressure on Russia, but we need our European partners to follow us,” said Bessent on “Meet The Press” of NBC News.

“We are now in a race between the duration of the duration of the Ukrainian army compared to the duration of the duration of the Russian economy,” added Bessent. “And if the United States and the [European Union] can enter, make more sanctions, secondary prices on countries that buy Russian oil, the Russian economy will be in total collapse and which will bring [Russian] President [Vladimir] Poutine at the table.

Last month, the Trump administration imposed prices of 50% on India, some of the highest rates that the United States has imposed on any nation, citing its continuous Russian oil purchases in the midst of the war in Ukraine.

Russia has launched its greatest air attack in the war overnight, killing at least four people and set fire to a government building in kyiv.

Also Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on ABC News “this week” that putting prices on countries that continue to conclude agreements with Russia is the “good idea”. He also said that he thought that “President Trump was right” of his criticism from European countries that still buy Russian oil.

“I am very grateful to all the partners, but some of them, I mean, they continue [to] Buy Russian oil and gas, and it’s not fair, “said Zelenskyy.

“I think, what I think, I think the idea of ​​putting prices on countries that continue to conclude agreements with Russia. I think it’s the good idea,” he added later.

Trump flew to Alaska last month to meet Putin for the first time during his second term. A few days later, Trump welcomed Zelenskyy and European leaders in the White House to discuss a potential end in war.

Since then, it seems that the words of a ceasefire or the end of the war have been set, and Russia continued its attack of air strikes on Ukraine.

Last week, NBC News reported that Trump had become pessimistic about the efforts to end the war, although he joined European leaders on telephone calls and urged them to join the United States to put China to support the Russian war effort.

Bessent also talked about Trump’s economic agenda, rejecting concerns about the rates and the August employment report last week. He also rejected concerns that it was a sign of a “job recession” in the United States

Bessent also spoke of the Trump administration’s appeal on Sunday to the Supreme Court aimed at canceling a decision of the Court of Appeal which ruled against Trump’s large -scale prices.

“I am convinced that we will win at the Supreme Court,” he told the moderator of “Met The Press”, Kristen Welker.

However, he added that if the Supreme Court reigns against Trump, “there are many other ways that we can take” to continue to impose prices.

But these other avenues, added Bessent, “would decrease the negotiation position of President Trump”.

In a decision signed by seven of his judges, the American court of appeal for the federal circuit said that Trump had abused his authority when he imposed prices on foreign nations under the cover of the president’s emergency powers. The court declared that only the congress had the power to impose such radical rates.

When asked if the Trump administration would be ready to issue reimbursements for the tariff income it had collected if the Supreme Court had ruled against this, Bessent said: “We must do it.”

“We had to reimburse about half of the prices, which would be terrible for the treasure,” said Bessent, adding later: “If the court said, we had to do it.”

However, he largely defended Trump’s pricing program on Sunday, telling Welker earlier in the program that prices are not a tax on the American people and pointing to other success markers in the economy.

“If things are so bad, why was GDP 3.3%? Why is the stock market at a new summit? Because, you know, with President Trump, we care about large businesses and small businesses,” he said.

“When I was here in April, the sky fell with the prices, that everyone has left the United States since then, the US bond market has been the most efficient bond market in the developed world, and from Barclays Bank to Goldman Sachs to others say that it is the tariff income and the budgetary improvement that we see,” he added. “This is what President Trump talks about.”

Bessent also referred to what he called an economic “panic” in April to respond to the report of jobs last month, which showed growth lower than the job market.

Bessent challenged economic analysts who declared that the United States was in a “job recession”, stressing new heights on the stock market as a sign of a healthy economy.

“When I was here with you in April, there was a panic because the stock market had dropped,” he told Welker. “Many other consumer media were in a complete foam on stock market performance.”

“President Trump … held the opinions on the prices. He was proven. We had the fastest market resumption in history,” he added. “We are at new peaks in August, and we – look at, we are not going to do the economic policy of a number. We think that good policies are in place that will create good jobs well paid for the American people.”