Trump’s economic policies hit Iran, Canada and U.S. workers

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Elaine Weeks** (0:19)
WBUR Podcasts, Boston.

**Scott Bessent** (0:29)
Today, we are launching Operation Economic Outcast to foreclose every other option available to the Iranian regime.

**Shiko Theori** (0:38)
Treasury Secretary Scott Besant declares Economic D-Day on Iran.
It's Monday, August 24th, and this is Here & Now Anytime from NPR and WBUR Boston. I'm Shiko Theori. Today on the show, the trade war between the US and Canada is escalating.

**Mark Carney** (1:06)
We can't control the storm that blows in from Washington. We can, however, chart a new course by building Canada strong at home and diversifying our trading relationships abroad.

**Shiko Theori** (1:18)
And more tariffs means more pressure on the US economy, adding to the heap of problems farmers are facing.

**Matt Teagarden** (1:24)
Labor has been a challenge for years, and it is only getting worse.

**Shiko Theori** (1:30)
But first, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant unveils new economic measures against Iran.
Negar Mortazavi is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy. She's also the host of the Iran podcast and joined Robin Young with the latest.

**Robin Young** (1:46)
Just a little while ago, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant announced the highly anticipated plan for Iran, something he called economic asphyxiation of the regime. But here's what he said, for instance, about countries that do business with Iran.

**Scott Bessent** (2:00)
Every country has a defined timeline to shut down activities we have identified. If they do not take action, we will do so unilaterally through Treasury authorities.

**Robin Young** (2:11)
Secretary Besant added, the clock just started ticking, but some thought time had already run out. Negar, we spoke earlier today, waiting for these announcements. Did you expect more action than continued threats? What did you hear?

**Negar Mortazavi** (2:26)
Not really. I mean, it's very much a continuation of the rhetoric of the president's senior officials since before the war, the beginning of the war, but I don't know how this is going to achieve any goals in action. I mean, military supremacy, US has military supremacy over Iran and they haven't been able to make Iran surrender or capitulate with that kind of absolute force. So to think that more economic force is going to bring the Iranians to some form of surrender, I think is just a mirage.

**Robin Young** (2:58)
Well, at least one reporter at the press conference felt this was less than the D-Day promised. Here's that exchange.

**SPEAKER_9** (3:06)
You described this as an economic D-Day, but D-Day wasn't a threat of an invasion and the US didn't give a timeline to Germany. So why not impose the sanctions today?

**Scott Bessent** (3:18)
Well, we are giving everyone the opportunity to remedy bad behavior. Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?

**Robin Young** (3:27)
Does that make sense to you? Because some would say, but if that's what you think is going to happen, why this avenue?

**Negar Mortazavi** (3:36)
Right. I mean, I think that's a question for the administration. I just saw a former State Department official basically called this a nothing burger. I mean, it seems like that's what it is, more threats, but it's not very clear if there's an actual strategy behind this, if there's a path to a goal and what is the goal? Again, this was a war that started with a set of goals, very high grand goals, regime change in Iran, destroying their army, Navy, Air Force, their nuclear program, which supposedly was already destroyed last year in the Operation Midnight Hammer. Then this war not only didn't achieve any of those goals, it created a whole new problem, which is the Strait of Hormuz, and it turned this turn to be a main point of leverage Iran has because of the advantage of geography, which you can't change with more economic pressure, even if we assume that there is going to be immense economic pressure.
So I'm just not sure if there's a strategy for this administration. And this also, I think, speaks to the frustration, because I think President Trump entered the war assuming this will be a quick and easy win. Some compared it to Venezuela, and that this would be a similar model. And it didn't happen. And I think now the frustration is, why can't the US be the absolute winner? And the Iranians have shown that they have some cards to play and some leverage.