WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that several allies in the Gulf region and Asia have requested currency swap lines from the United States to help them address energy shocks and other fallout from the U.S.-Israel war on Iran. Bessent did not disclose which countries had made the requests.

"And swap lines, whether it's from the Federal Reserve or the Treasury, are to maintain order in the dollar funding markets and to prevent the sale of the US assets in a disorderly way." Bessent said. Currency swap lines are arrangements in which central banks exchange currency to provide liquidity that can stabilize markets in times of economic uncertainty.

Bessent pointed to the United Arab Emirates as one country that would benefit from such an arrangement. "The swap line would benefit both the UAE and the US, and, as I said, numerous other countries, including some of our Asian allies, have also requested them." he said.

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he was considering the proposed swap line. Bessent denied any linkage between the proposed arrangement and separate investment activity involving the UAE, including a $500 million investment by a top UAE government official in World Liberty Financial, the Trump family's crypto venture. The U.S. government relaxed export controls on UAE companies while those investments occurred.

Senator Chris Van Hollen said that providing a swap line to the UAE would put pressure on U.S. consumers, requiring over a billion dollars a day in taxpayer money, raising gas prices and increasing prices overall. Van Hollen said that Trump and his family have conducted substantial business with the UAE over the last few years.

Rachel Ziemba, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, said the UAE's request is likely symbolic and is one of the ways the Emirati government is signaling its commitment to the United States in national security sensitive areas such as AI development and defense. Ziemba wrote that the UAE wants to be at the nexus of global financial hubs, making a swap line a U.S. seal of approval.

In October, the U.S. Treasury provided Argentina with a $20 billion currency swap, backed by the Treasury's $219 billion Exchange Stabilization Fund, to help stabilize the peso during an election period. The arrangement provided Argentina's central bank with a safety net of dollars to prop up the peso's value and prevent a devaluation ahead of the vote, and helped strengthen the position of President Javier Milei's party. Argentina has since repaid the swap line. The Treasury issued that arrangement without Federal Reserve oversight. During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Reserve issued swap lines to Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Singapore.