STORY: :: Bessent says the U.S. has been 'asleep' on economic security and that Trump's policies are waking it up
:: Simi Valley, California / May 29, 2026
:: Scott Bessent, U.S. Treasury Secretary
"The truth is that for too long, America had been asleep. We mistook comfort for strength. We substituted efficiency for resilience and consumption as a measure of prosperity. We told ourselves that so long as goods were cheaper overseas, it did not matter whether factories went dark in Michigan, Ohio or Pennsylvania. We assumed that supply chains would always function smoothly, and adversaries would always behave responsibly, and the invisible hand would correct vulnerabilities that too few in public life had the courage to confront. And while we reassured ourselves with those assumptions, risks accumulated all around us. // America should never again put itself in a position where its security depends on supply chains it does not control, factories it no longer maintains or skilled trades it failed to preserve. That is why the president's agenda matters. Reasonable people can debate the calibration of any particular instrument. But the central strategic insight is undoubtedly sound trade policy, industrial capacity and national security are inseparable."
Bessent's remarks come two weeks after Trump's summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, which reaffirmed the economic and strategic standoff between the two superpowers and produced agreements for managed trade and investment and some purchases of U.S. farm goods and aircraft.
He said Trump's America First Agenda, encompassing tariff actions framed around national and economic security, would start to correct past mistakes, along with the administration's efforts to rebuild American shipbuilding capability and U.S. supply chains for critical minerals and pharmaceuticals.
