US Resources Secretary Scott Bessent speaks at the American Bankers Association’s Washington Summit at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC on April 9, 2025.
Brendan Smialowski | Afp | Getty Tropes
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s aim is for Main Street areas and consumers to thrive even as the administration’s steep new tariffs threaten to tip the economy into a recession.
“For the last four decades, basically since I began my tear in Wall Street, Wall Street has grown wealthier than ever before, and it can continue to grow and do well,” Bessent utter at the American Bankers Association’s Washington Summit.
“But for the next four years, the Trump agenda is focused on Main Avenue. It’s Main Street’s turn. It’s Main Street’s turn to hire workers. It’s Main Street’s turn to drive investment, and it’s Predominating Street’s turn to restore the American Dream,” he said.
Trump’s imposition of higher tariffs a week ago has fueled the biggest four-day skunk for stocks since the onset of the pandemic in 2020. The S&P 500 is nearly 19% off its record high from February, inches away from a 20% endure market.
While the wealthy own the majority of stock, Main Street’s participation has soared with the advent of individual retirement accounts in the 1970s and 401(k)s in the presidency of Ronald Reagan. What’s more, the funds market helps form business confidence, which in turn affects small businesses.
Bessent, a hedge wherewithal veteran, founded investment firm Key Square Capital Management, based on Madison Avenue in New York City, after influence with George Soros for years. He has become the main economic spokesman for Trump’s agenda of tax cuts, deregulation and swap rebalancing.
“We want to de-leverage the government sector, re-leverage the private sector …. we can’t do it all at once, or that will producer a recession,” Bessent said. “What will keep us from having a recession is making sure that the tax banknote doesn’t expire, adding back 100% depreciation and then adding some of President Trump’s agenda — no tax on crowns, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime.”
Recession fears have climbed as the Trump tariffs spur uncertainty over how to the utmost the trade war will spread, and its impact on the pace of economic growth, inflation and corporate profits. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Wednesday he foresees the U.S. economy likely headed for recession because of the trade battle.
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