Exclusive — Secretary Bessent on ‘Reprivatization’ of Economy: ‘We Are Laser-Focused on Getting this Deficit Under Control’

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Breitbart News exclusively that President Donald Trump’s administration is “laser-focused” on cutting the deficit and getting spending “under control,” part of his larger vision of “reprivatization” of the U.S. economy so economic growth is no longer dependent on government spending but instead on private sector growth. Bessent said he joined Trump on the campaign trail last year and later joined his cabinet because he was “so alarmed” by the “high level of government spending” that had taken hold in recent years.

Bessent delivered a major address to the Economic Club of New York last week in which he called for a “reprivatization” of the U.S. economy, arguing that under former President Joe Biden’s administration, the economy was far too dependent on government spending for economic growth and that moving forward, the United States needs the private sector to instead drive such growth.

“One of the reasons I came out from behind my desk and asked President Trump if I could join the campaign — and then when he asked me to be in the Cabinet — was because I was so alarmed by this high level of government spending,” Bessent told Breitbart News when asked about this vision. “We’ve never seen anything like this. Highest level ever when we weren’t in a war and a recession. So, the Biden administration relied on this blowout spending. Back to the mainstream media, no one criticized it when they were doing it. It was for the greater good, it was for green programs, it was for this, it was for overseas engagement. Now, what we’re trying to do is do a course correction where we bring down the government, we de-leverage the government, and re-leverage the private sector. We’re going to do that by cutting spending, we’ll get a natural lowering of interest rates, and then on the other side as we relever the private sector, we plan to deregulate the banking system, which is one of the other things I talked about at the Economic Club of New York last week. So, as we unshackle the regulated banking system, they can lend to the private sector — especially Main Street, which has been overlooked — so small, regional banks, small banks, community banks, and so as the government comes down, the private sector goes up, the government will shed excess labor, and there’s plenty of it, and then the private sector will pick it up.”

Bessent also disagreed with critics of his and Trump’s ideas on this front. The critics argue that slashing government spending would cause a recession, but Bessent said he disagrees and applies “fact-based analysis” based on decades as an investor and on his conversations with leading bankers nationwide.

“I disagree. This does not have to cause a recession,” Bessent said. “Again, back to your point on fact-based analysis, in my 35 years from my investment career, I was able to not listen to the noise and adhere to the facts. I can tell you the facts are I’ve met with several large bank executives and payment processors in the past week, and the American consumer is in great shape. They’re spending. I met with one of the five largest bank CEOs today. He said that small and medium manufacturing in the Midwest, they’ve seen a tick up in loan volume. So I disagree with this. Where were all these people when the Biden administration was blowing out the deficit? We could have come in. It would have been easy to come in and keep up these horrendous spending levels and maybe we could have kept it going for one year, two years, maybe even four years and let the next president and his administration and the American people deal with this problem — or it could blow up at any time. So, we are laser-focused on getting this deficit under control. And then growing the economy.”

Much more from Bessent’s exclusive interview with Breitbart News at the Treasury Department is forthcoming.