Tag Archives: Scott Bessent

“As I said before, there are 18 very important trading relationships. We are currently negotiating with 17 of those trading partners. China, we have not engaged in negotiations with as of yet. So I expect that we can see a substantial reduction in the tariffs that we are being charged, as well as non-tariff barriers, currency manipulation, and the subsidies …

ABC News reports: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in various TV hits Monday that it’s “up to China to de-escalate” the trade war. Bessent also said that “all aspects of government are in contact with China,” even as Beijing continues to deny there are any tariff talks between the two governments. “So, they, you know, all aspects of government are in …

Axios reports: Elon Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent got into a heated shouting match in earshot of President Trump and other officials in the White House last week during a dispute about the IRS, two witnesses and three sources briefed on the matter tell Axios. “It was two billionaire, middle-aged men thinking it was WWE in the hall of …

Politico reports: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that the Trump administration planned to pursue reforms at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to achieve a more “sustainable international economic system” that better serves the United States and other countries. Bessent said the Trump administration would not seek to retreat from those institutions but instead push to play a …

Politico reports: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has repeatedly cautioned White House officials that any attempt to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell would risk destabilizing financial markets. Bessent’s private message reinforces what President Donald Trump already knows but comes as the president’s anger with the Fed chair is growing because Powell hasn’t shown signs that he will cut interest rates …

The New York Times reports: Behind the scenes, senior members of Mr. Trump’s team had feared a financial panic that could spiral out of control and potentially devastate the economy. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and others on the president’s team, including Vice President JD Vance, had been pushing for a more structured approach to the trade conflict that would focus …

Axios reports: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday declined to rule out the possibility of delisting Chinese stocks from U.S. exchanges, during an interview on Fox Business Network. The trade war could bleed beyond tariffs. Bessent didn’t raise the delisting prospect, but also didn’t flinch when asked about it by Maria Bartiromo. “I think everything’s on the table,” Bessent said, …

The Hill reports: In an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” moderator Kristen Welker asked Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent about remarks from last January, when Bessent wrote, “Tariffs are inflationary.” “Have you expressed any concerns to President Trump directly that his tariff policy could be inflationary?” Welker asked. “No, what I have said are tariffs are a one-time price adjustment,” …

“I say that what we are doing is we’re setting the stage for long-term economic growth, that we were on our way to a financial crisis. I used to teach a history of financial crises. With gigantic government spending, it was unsustainable. You look back in 1998, you look back in ’07. Right before it looked great, everything collapsed. My …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Treasury Department’s financial crimes unit said on Wednesday it has issued a new rule that will narrow a key element of the 2021 Corporate Transparency Act, a law aimed at combating illicit finance. The new Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, rule goes into effect on Wednesday, even as the unit receives public comment on the …

Politico reports: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday did not rule out allowing Russian banks to rejoin the SWIFT international payment messaging system as negotiations continue on an end to the war in Ukraine. But the White House would need backing from Europe to restart it. “There would be a long discussion about many things in terms of the proper …

“It was a silly question. ‘Can you guarantee there’s not gonna be a recession?’ I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee that the journalist who asked me the question that her news program is gonna be on in a year. “What I can guarantee that there is no reason that we need to have a recession. I think the economy, …

“Look, I was with the Business Roundtable yesterday. I think it was 100, 135 CEOs. And, you know, I talked to them about our plan, which includes tariffs, deregulation and what I call reprivatizing the government and bringing down this incredible bubble of government spending. “And you know what? One or two items were with one trading bloc. I’m not …

The Hill reports: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday the United States economy has become increasingly reliant on excessive government spending. “The market and the economy have become hooked, become addicted, to excessive government spending, and there’s going to be a detox period,” Bessent said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” Bessent added there will be a “natural adjustment” as the Trump …

CNBC reports: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday offered a full-throated defense of the White House’s position on tariffs, insisting that trade policy has to be about more than just getting low-priced items from other countries. “Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream,” Bessent said during a speech to the Economic Club of New York. …

NBC News reports: The U.S. Mint has removed from its website the gold medals honoring police officers who protected the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot — another instance of President Donald Trump’s administration moving to take down material related to the violent episode stemming from his falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election results. Bronze duplicates of the …

The New York Times reports: President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, rejected an offer by the Trump administration to relinquish half of the country’s mineral resources in exchange for U.S. support, according to five people briefed on the proposal or with direct knowledge of the talks. The unusual deal would have granted the United States …

Politico reports: Federal employee unions on Monday sued to stop Elon Musk’s team from accessing a sensitive government payment system that controls the flow of trillions of dollars of payments as top Democrats stepped up their attacks on what they said was the billionaire’s “hostile takeover” of the Treasury Department. The lawsuit, which was filed days after Treasury Secretary Scott …

The Washington Post reports: President Donald Trump on Monday appointed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a powerful watchdog agency whose oversight and enforcement actions Bessent immediately halted in a move that delighted big banks and enraged public-interest groups. In an email to agency staff, Bessent ordered the bureau to cease all …

The New York Times reports: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave representatives of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency full access to the federal payment system late on Friday. Mr. Bessent granted access to the payments system to a handful of staff members affiliated with DOGE, including Tom Krause, the chief executive of a Silicon Valley company, Cloud Software Group. Access …