page_title: Steven Mnuchin
section_title: International relations
hierarchical_section_title: Steven Mnuchin / Secretary of the Treasury / Tenure / International relations
caption_attribution_description: English: Good discussion with Saudi Arabian Director of PIF and Chairman of Saudi Aramco H.E. Yasir Al-Rumayyan about energy opportunities and investments in #USA
context_page_description: Steven Terner Mnuchin is an American politician, investment banker and film producer who is serving as the 77th United States secretary of the treasury as part of the Cabinet of Donald Trump. Previously, Mnuchin had been a hedge fund manager and investor.
  After he graduated from Yale University in 1985, Mnuchin worked for investment bank Goldman Sachs where his father, Robert E. Mnuchin, was a general partner. He worked at Goldman Sachs for 17 years, eventually becoming its chief information officer. After he left Goldman Sachs in 2002, he worked for and founded several hedge funds. Mnuchin was a member of Sears Holdings's board of directors from 2005 until December 2016, and before that was on Kmart's board of directors. After Sears went bankrupt, the company that formerly owned it sued Mnuchin and ex-CEO Edward Lampert for "asset stripping" during their tenure. During the financial crisis of 2007–2008, Mnuchin bought failed residential lender IndyMac. He changed the name to OneWest Bank and rebuilt the bank, then sold it to CIT Group in 2015. During his time as OneWest CEO and chairman, the bank became embroiled in several lawsuits over questionable foreclosures.
context_section_description: At a March 18, 2017, meeting of G-20 country finance ministers, Mnuchin supported the Trump administration's trade policy of economic protectionism.
  During an April 24, 2017, White House briefing, Mnuchin announced Department of Treasury sanctions against the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center. He said the sanctions were designed to create accountability for the Bashar al-Assad regime and its supporters in the wake of their violations both of U.N. Security Council resolutions and of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
  On June 29, Mnuchin announced the Bank of Dandong, a Chinese bank, had sanctions imposed on it by the U.S. He charged the bank with acting "as a gateway for North Korea to access the U.S. and international financial systems".
  On March 15, 2018, Mnuchin unveiled a series of sanctions, first time under CAATSA as well as Executive Order 13694, against various Russian entities and individuals.
  Beginning in November 2019, Mnuchin facilitated negotiations between the governments of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan with respect to the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam after tripartite negotiations between the three countries languished after eight years of talks. Egypt has opposed the dam, fearing that it will reduce the amount of water it receives from the Nile. In February 2020, Mnuchin stated that "final testing and filling should not take place without an agreement." Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedu Andargachew said Mnuchin’s advise to Ethiopia was" ill-advised".
caption: Mnuchin and Saudi Arabian Director of PIF and Chairman of Saudi Aramco, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, discuss energy opportunities and investments in the United States, October 31, 2019
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