Bloomberg News reports that ECB President Christine Lagarde used the 30 March videoconference involving G7 finance ministers, energy ministers, and central bank governors "to challenge [US] Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s optimism that the Iran war’s economic fallout will be short-lived".
- The article claims that, according to people familiar with the matter, Bessent used the call to play down the economic damage engendered by the war in Iran and the subsequent spike in energy prices and concerns about supply of hydrocarbons. However, Lagarde is said to have "pushed back", telling those on the call "that the effects would be felt for a long time because so much has already been destroyed,"
- Lagarde, speaking to The Economist last week, said "expectations of a swift return to normal may be “overly optimistic”. “We are facing a real shock…probably beyond what we can imagine at the moment.”
- Bessent, often deployed by the White House to try to soothe market jitters, has played down the risk of any sustained price or supply shock. Indeed, speaking to Fox News on 30 March, he claimed that “Over time, the US is going to retake control of the straits [of Hormuz], and there will be freedom of navigation — whether it is through US escorts or a multinational escort”.
- This stance may have been somewhat altered following WSJ reports of the potential for President Donald Trump to seek a peace deal even with the Strait subject to Iranian control, and today's Truth Social blast at allies including the UK.