U.S. Department of the Treasury

The Treasury Department has taken the lead role in negotiating tariff agreements with China, with Secretary Bessent serving as Trump's primary envoy. - Lead agency on China trade negotiations

In April 2025, U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods peaked at 145 percent. Nine months later, President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping describe their relationship as 'extremely good' and are planning four bilateral summits in 2026, including Trump's first visit to Beijing since 2017.

Updated Feb 5

Federal department overseeing IRS operations and issuing regulatory guidance on new tax provisions. - Issuing implementation guidance for OBBB provisions

The Internal Revenue Service opened the 2026 tax filing season on January 26 with the first implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Signed on July 4, 2025, the sweeping tax law permanently extends the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions that were set to expire in December 2025, while adding new deductions for tips, overtime pay, car loan interest, and an enhanced deduction for seniors. Taxpayers will encounter a new form—Schedule 1-A—to claim these benefits, and employers are navigating updated W-2 reporting requirements that separately track qualified overtime and tips.

Updated Jan 31

Federal agency responsible for seeding $1,000 into eligible children's accounts and overseeing program implementation. - Administering Trump Accounts program

The United States has never offered universal investment accounts to children. Starting July 4, 2026, every American born between 2025 and 2028 will receive $1,000 from the Treasury Department deposited into a stock market index fund—accessible at age 18 for education, homebuying, or starting a business. Over 1 million families enrolled in the program's first week.

Updated Jan 31

Treasury uses sanctions to pressure Russia while trying not to shock allied energy systems. - Owns the sanctions strategy and the political balancing act behind carve-outs

Sanctions are supposed to close doors. On December 17, the U.S. quietly propped two doors back open—again—even as it slammed others shut. One narrow lane keeps Sakhalin-2 crude flowing to Japan. The other preserves financial channels for civil nuclear projects, even when payments touch sanctioned Russian banks. Both carve-outs now run through June 18, 2026.

Updated Jan 30

Treasury’s systemic-risk approval in March 2023 set the payback requirement in motion. - Approved systemic-risk action that triggered the legally required special assessment

The FDIC spent 2024–2025 billing big banks for the emergency decision to make SVB and Signature depositors whole. Now, with one quarter left in the planned eight-quarter collection, the agency is lowering that final rate and trying to prevent an awkward ending: collecting more than the losses it’s legally required to recover.

Updated Dec 19, 2025

Treasury is using sanctions to make Iranian oil exports more expensive, riskier, and less profitable. - Leading maximum-pressure sanctions enforcement against Iran’s oil revenue streams

Treasury just hit Iran’s oil-smuggling “shadow fleet” where it actually hurts: the ships. On December 18, 2025, OFAC blocked 29 vessels and a web of managers and front-company operators that keep Iranian oil moving when the paperwork is fake and the GPS goes dark.

Updated Dec 18, 2025

Cabinet department responsible for U.S. economic and fiscal policy; oversees the OCC and chairs FSOC via the Treasury Secretary. - Pushing a deregulatory posture that shapes FSOC and influences prudential-policy direction across agencies

In March 2013, U.S. bank regulators issued joint supervisory guidance on leveraged lending to prevent a return of pre-2008-style underwriting excesses, with examiners informally anchoring scrutiny around a roughly six-times-EBITDA leverage benchmark. Over the next decade, banks’ pullback helped shift riskier deal finance toward private-credit funds, CLOs, and other nonbanks—expanding an opaque “shadow banking” ecosystem even as regulators maintained the guidance was supervisory, not a binding rule.

Updated Dec 11, 2025