Trump Hints at Secondary Sanctions on Chinese Financial Sector Over Iran

[Financial News] President Donald Trump, who has launched sweeping economic sanctions targeting Iran, hinted that he could sanction Chinese banks that support Iran.
According to AFP, Trump responded to a question at The White House on the 27th local time about whether he would impose "secondary sanctions" on Chinese banks by asking, "Who said I wasn't doing it?"
On the 24th, United States Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent announced additional broad sanctions on Iran. He said the United States would impose secondary sanctions that cut off companies and banks in third countries doing business with Iran from the U.S. financial system. He warned that firms and financial institutions in third countries that deal with Iran in digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping would face close scrutiny. At the time of the sanctions announcement on the 24th, Bessent did not directly mention China, even though Chinese financial institutions are Iran's largest trading partners. He said, "No one can escape the reach of U.S. sanctions."
When asked on the 27th why Chinese financial institutions were not being sanctioned, Trump replied, "You don't know whether I'm doing it or not. I don't need to announce everything," and added, "Right?"
AFP said Trump had hinted at sanctions on Chinese banks linked to Iran, adding that "U.S. efforts to isolate Iran could intensify significantly."
Meanwhile, Trump said on the 27th about allegations of Chinese cyberattacks, "Someone talked about China. 'What about China? I hear they're spying on us,'" and added, "We're spying on them too."
The previous day, the DOJ and the FBI announced that they had detected and disrupted a large-scale cyberattack carried out by hackers linked to Chinese authorities that concealed the source of the attacks while targeting U.S. agencies. The targets included the DOJ, the Department of Energy, the Department of Health and Human Services, NASA, the Fed, and the Senate. The hackers were reportedly working for the People's Liberation Army and the Ministry of State Security of the People's Republic of China.
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