US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sought Thursday to persuade nervous investors that President Donald Trump’s economic policies are part of a larger, coherent vision.
“Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream,” Bessent said during a speech to the Economic Club of New York, arguing that everything from tariffs to laying off government workers to German defense spending is part of a unified program to re-order the global economy in America’s favor. “For too long, the designers of multilateral trade deals have lost sight of this.”
The S&P 500, already down 1% on the day when Bessent started speaking, fell further by day’s end despite Trump suspending tariffs on some Canadian and Mexican imports. It was Bessent’s third attempt this week to calm financial markets, following appearances on Face the Nation and Fox & Friends.
He gave a full-throated defense of Trump’s tariffs, which he said were a key piece of an “aggressive campaign to rebalance the international economic system” that also includes a strong dollar, higher energy production, and tougher sanctions on Iran. He acknowledged tariffs would put a “one-time price adjustment” on imported goods but said he wasn’t worried about a return of inflation.
Markets generally welcomed Bessent’s appointment, but have been unnerved by a rapid-fire economic and regulatory agenda that changes by the day. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index is down 10% from its recent peak and officially in correction territory — often a waystation toward a formal bear-market designation.
“Wall Street’s done great, Wall Street can continue doing well,” Bessent said at Thursday’s event at the Economic Club of New York. “But this administration is about Main Street.”
