The Department of Treasury's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is making permanent, with two changes, temporary regulations issued in 2022 on reduced excise tax rates and tax credits for imported distilled spirits, wines, and beer (see [Ref:2209220065).

The Internal Revenue Service has added 39 chemical substances to its list of taxable substances under the Superfund tax on chemical substances, it said in a Federal Register notice. Effective Jan. 1, 2026, imports of these 39 substances will be subject to excise tax.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control is renewing a general license that authorizes certain imports of Russian non-industrial, unsorted diamonds that were substantially transformed outside of Russia. General License 104A, which replaces 104, authorizes those imports as long as the diamonds were located outside of Russia on March 1, 2024, for diamonds weighing 1 carat or more, and Sept. 1, 2024, if they weigh more than 0.5 carats but less than 1 carat. The license was set to expire Sept. 1 (see 2408230043), but it now expires on that date in 2026.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that while he expects more trade talks with China in the next two months, the administration is "very happy" with the current combination of Section 301 tariffs, 20% fentanyl tariffs and 10% reciprocal tariffs on Chinese goods, he said.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the plan to impose higher tariffs on India over its Russian oil purchases, but not on China, arguing that India's purchase patterns shifted sharply after the invasion of Ukraine.

The Treasury Department collected nearly $27.7 billion in customs duties in July, the highest monthly value since the start of the 2025 fiscal year on Oct. 1, 2024, according to Treasury receipts data released Aug. 12.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested the White House may be in favor of a bill that would authorize new sanctions and tariffs against Russia’s supporters, and he urged the EU to put in place similar measures.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on CNN's "State of the Union with Jake Tapper" on May 18 that among almost 20 countries with which administration officials have begun trade negotiations, "with a few exceptions, the countries are coming with very good proposals for us."

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in a talk moderated by Mike Milken, a former trader pardoned by President Donald Trump for long-ago securities fraud, said that trade, tax cuts and deregulation are "interlocking parts of an engine designed to drive long-term investment in the American economy."

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking on the Sunday CBS program "Face the Nation," said March 2 that "the big tariff program," or reciprocal tariffs, will be outlined on April 2. That report is going to show what other countries' tariffs are on specific goods, what non-tariff barriers have been identified, and what kind of currency manipulation, financing interventions or "labor manipulation" distorts international trade.