Trump's treasury secretary says plan is not for 'America alone,' but reiterates focus on trade deficits
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that while the Trump administration was committed to playing an active role in global financial institutions, it remained focused on addressing large trade imbalances — especially with respect to China, whose economic model Bessent called “unsustainable.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that while the Trump administration was committed to playing an active role in global financial institutions, it remained focused on addressing large trade imbalances — especially with respect to China, whose economic model Bessent called “unsustainable.”
Bessent’s remarks came amid some growing optimism that Trump had begun to show signs of softening his tariff push as well as his attacks on Fed Chair Jerome Powell. But Bessent did little to indicate a near-term change to the combative stance with the rest of the world that Trump has taken since the start of his second term.
While Bessent said “more than 100 countries” have now approached the U.S. to address trade imbalances, he reasserted a key Trump talking point that the rest of the world — as well as past U.S. presidents — were responsible for harming America’s heartland.
“For decades, successive administrations relied on faulty assumptions that our trading partners would implement policies that would drive a balanced global economy,” Bessent said. “Instead, we face the stark reality of large and persistent U.S. deficits as a result of an unfair trading system.”
He continued: “Intentional policy choices by other countries have hollowed out America’s manufacturing sector and undermined our critical supply chains, putting our national and economic security at risk.”
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