The U.S. Treasury Department has denied press credentials to Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times for the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting that the Trump administration is hosting, marking the first time the U.S. government has barred multiple news organizations from an international event.
Bloomberg reported on the 30th that the Treasury Department rejected its registration requests multiple times for the G20 meeting in Asheville, North Carolina. The department also turned down a credential request from a New York Times reporter after rejecting Bloomberg and the Journal. Germany's finance ministry, however, asked the U.S. Treasury to register one Times reporter accompanying Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil and secured the approval, according to the report.
The G20 meeting runs for three days, from the 31st through the 2nd of next month. The United States holds the G20 presidency this year, and the Treasury Department controls access to the gathering. The department had said it expected more than 200 journalists from dozens of countries to attend. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with The Associated Press that outlets' viewpoints had nothing to do with the credential denials.
The Trump administration has restricted press access to public events since the president began a second term last year. It reshaped the composition of the White House press pool, and the Defense Department stopped major news organizations from keeping offices inside the Pentagon. The latest move extends those restrictions to an international conference.
Bloomberg said denying access to the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting undermines press freedom and public accountability, adding that it would continue to press for access while covering the proceedings fairly and accurately. Nicole Taylor, a spokeswoman for the Times, said the decision was not only a troubling attempt by the administration to undermine independent journalism but also a brazen effort to evade public scrutiny.
Excluding major news outlets from an international event of this kind has few precedents even among countries that have hosted past G20 meetings, including Russia and China. A comparable case came in 2009, when the Obama administration sought to exclude Fox News from an interview with Kenneth Feinberg, then the Treasury Department's pay czar. The White House, which arranged the interview, dropped the plan after other broadcasters warned they would boycott it.
Markets, meanwhile, are watching Bessent's remarks closely after he intervened to stabilize the yen and bond markets. Long-term U.S. Treasury yields hit multiyear highs this month as inflation concerns resurfaced and national debt topped $40 trillion. Bessent is also being tested on how he has handled an economic pressure campaign aimed at bringing Iran to the negotiating table to end the war that President Trump started. That has prompted analysis suggesting he intends to deal only with news organizations favorable to him.
