Midweek Update: Trump's Treasury Chief Calls Their Bluff: The End

Susan Kokinda opens with the European Union's largest expansion of its Russia sanctions list since the war began, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calling Europe's objections to the U.S. Russia diesel deal "completely hypocritical", since Europe is still Moscow's biggest gas customer. The episode follows the reactions to President Trump's diesel deal, from Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney and Boris Johnson to the EU's foreign ministers, set against President Trump's post on the European Union paying Russia $250 billion for energy and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak's figure of $320.7 billion since 2022. It then turns to the IMF. World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, where IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said growth alone cannot fix U.S. debt and deficits, the headlines that followed, and the IMF's playbook since Bretton Woods ended in 1971. It closes with Secretary Bessent skipping the meetings for "domestic engagements", and Peter Navarro's White House progress report on America's manufacturing investments: over 500 projects, more than $380 billion in announced investment, mapped across the country.

00:00 Midweek Update Intro
01:41 Trump Forces the Empire's Hand
04:25 IMF Says: Growth Doesn't Work
07:00 The Empty Chair

Credits
Photos
- Boris Johnson and Volodymyr Zelensky, Kyiv, April 9, 2022: Office of the President of Ukraine, CC0
- Kristalina Georgieva, Davos, January 20, 2026: Isaac Castillo/Presidencia de la República del Ecuador, public domain
- Peter Navarro, White House press conference, October 9, 2026: frame from Real America's Voice coverage
Video
- Secretary Bessent on Fox & Friends Weekend, October 11, 2026: U.S. Department of the Treasury
- Kaja Kallas, press conference after the Foreign Affairs Council, Luxembourg, October 12, 2026: © European Union, 2026 (EU Audiovisual Service)
- Kristalina Georgieva, IMF press briefing, Bangkok, October 14, 2026 (AP)
- Peter Navarro's White House press conference, October 9, 2026: Real America's Voice coverage
- President Nixon's address to the nation, August 15, 1971: Richard Nixon Presidential Library (White House Communications Agency), public domain
- Demolition of the Rugeley cooling towers, June 6, 2021: Voice of Clam (Wikimedia Commons), public domain
- Stock footage: Storyblocks
Graphics: U.S. manufacturing investment maps, White House / Office of Trade and Manufacturing
Articles, posts and documents quoted: The Brussels Times (October 12, 2026); Prime Minister of Canada, readout of the call with President Zelenskyy (October 11, 2026); on X: @BorisJohnson (October 10, 2026); Euronews (October 12, 2026); on Truth Social: @realDonaldTrump (October 12, 2026); FRANCE 24 (October 13, 2026); Bloomberg (October 13, 2026); CNBC (October 14, 2026); Reuters (October 9, 2026)
Data: Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), buyers of Russian gas, December 5, 2022. August 31, 2026

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