U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended President Donald Trump's tariff policies, saying "economic security is national security" and that the measures are awakening America's dormant economic security. He described allowing China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a "bipartisan policy mistake" and stressed the need to reduce dependence on adversarial nations. The remarks drew particular attention as they came just two weeks after Trump's face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Reuters reported on Saturday, after obtaining an advance copy of the speech Bessent was scheduled to deliver at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.
According to the prepared text, Bessent said the United States had long been "asleep," mistaking comfort and consumption for strength and prosperity, and obsessing over efficiency at the expense of resilience. "Somewhere along the way, we lost sight of a fundamental principle that earlier generations understood instinctively: economic security is national security," he said. He also warned that "a nation that cannot manufacture, mine, transport, or refine what it needs gradually surrenders its power and sovereignty to others."
Bessent pointed to bipartisan policy mistakes, including allowing China's WTO accession, as having eroded America's industrial base and fostered dependence on foreign suppliers. He stressed that relying on competitors for critical goods, supporting the rise of nations that do not share American interests, and weakening the industrial base are incompatible with defending the international order.
"The Trump administration's America First approach will begin to correct the mistakes of the past," Bessent said. "This principle does not mean isolation from the world, but rather engagement with the world on stronger, fairer, and more sustainable terms." He said reducing dependence on adversaries does not mean rejecting efficiency, but rather "refusing to blindly worship efficiency when efficiency exposes our country to risk."
