Scott Bessent

“Despite its many flaws, abandoning the international trading system would be a major economic and strategic mistake. Instead, the United States must adopt policies aimed at correcting the sources of imbalances in the international economy.”

“In a certain geographic region at a certain economic level, being gay is not an issue.”

“The reserve currency can go up and down based on the market.”

“I mean, think about the coalition that Donald Trump assembled. This was the greatest political comeback in history, greatest political comeback in history. And it was a combination of working class Americans and Elon Musk, the richest person in the world. Who else could do that but Donald Trump?”

“The truth is that tariffs have a long and storied history as both a revenue-raising tool and a way of protecting strategically important industries in the U.S.”

“While inflation adjusted average hourly earnings rose 2.4% during Trump's first three years in office, they have declined 2.2% under Joe Biden. In short, work has been devalued in Joe Biden's economy, and American families are not keeping up with food and housing.”

“For too long, the conventional wisdom has rejected the use of tariffs as a tool of both economic and foreign policy. However, like Alexander Hamilton, we should not be afraid to use the power of tariffs to improve the livelihoods of American families and businesses.”

“Our escalating debt crisis hurts national security in three key ways: It diminishes our financial 'surge capacity,' it robs our private sector of capital for productive investment, and it imperils America's pre-eminent role in international financial markets.”

“I would recommend that tariffs be layered in gradually.”

“Asset prices are fickle, and long-term economic performance is the ultimate measuring stick.”

“Bidenomics was the belief that a government spending bonanza could juice the economy after the turmoil caused by a pandemic, lockdowns and supply-chain disruptions.”

“The shift of industrial production abroad and the corresponding reallocation of American resources into the service sector arguably provided aggregate benefits in periods of geopolitical calm. But ultimately the strength of the defence-industrial base is closely tied to the health of the broader industrial base.”

“Overhauling the regulatory and supervisory environment will encourage more lending and reinvigorate banks.”

“President Trump is right that actual free trade is desirable. It might seem counterintuitive from a free market perspective, but he is also right that in order to actually create a freer and more extensive trading system over the long term, we need a more activist approach internationally.”

“Inflation, interest rates and immigration - the three I's - have created a toxic economic mix for the bottom 50% of American wage earners during President Joe Biden's first three years in office.”

“We are going to have to have some kind of a grand global economic reordering. I'd like to be a part of it. I've studied this.”

“I've always tried to give back wherever I've been.”

“We have historically tended to run fairly steady levels of government tax revenue as a percentage of gross domestic product and expenditures at around 20%.”

“If a country with a free market trades with a managed economy, it in effect imports the industrial-policy choices of the managed economy. And because trade clears on a global basis, countries that run significant imbalances affect all participants in the global trading system, not just their bilateral counterparties.”

“We really see big opportunities when we are against the narrative.”