Bessent has pushed back on allegations that the Trump family’s financial ties with UAE are driving the decision to offer a swap line.United States Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent has said that several allies in the Gulf region and Asia have requested currency swap lines from the US to help them with the energy shocks and other fallout from the US-Israel war on Iran.Bessent told US senators on Wednesday that both the US and the United Arab Emirates would benefit from a proposed swap line – the act of central banks exchanging currency to provide liquidity that can stabilise markets in times of economic uncertainty – that US President Donald Trump said he was considering on Tuesday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listBessent did not name the countries making such requests, but told a US Senate Appropriations Committee budget hearing that such facilities would help stabilise financial markets amid turmoil from the war.“And swap lines, whether it’s from the Federal Reserve or the Treasury, are to maintain order in the dollar funding markets and to prevent the sale of the US assets in a disorderly way,” Bessent said. “So, the swap line would benefit both the UAE and the US, and, as I said, numerous other countries, including some of our Asian allies, have also requested them.”The US Treasury last October provided Argentina with a $20bn currency swap to help stabilise the country’s peso during a tumultuous election period, which helped st …
