Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent downplayed on Thursday the negative impacts of President Donald Trump‘s tariffs as he said a possible government shutdown is “the economic story for the next few days.”
Stock markets have taken a dive as Trump continues implementing a sweeping tariff agenda, including new 25% duties on steel and aluminum that went into effect this week.
Bessent took one question from reporters Thursday morning about the market volatility and objected to the assertion that the president’s agenda is bad for investors.
“I’m less concerned about the short term. I think we’ve had a big unwind and the tariffs — we’ve got strategic industries that we’ve got to have,” he said. “We want to protect the American worker. A lot of these trade deals haven’t been fair.”
Bessent quickly pivoted to castigating Democrats, who reiterated their opposition to a House-passed government funding bill Wednesday, hours ahead of a Friday shutdown deadline.
“I can tell you what’s not good for the economy is this government shuffling. I don’t know what Democrats are thinking here because they’re going to own it to the extent that it hurts confidence, hurts the American people.” Bessent said. “We have had incredible Republican unity since Jan. 20, and the fact that the Democrats are in disarray — they’re flailing — and this is the best they can do that. I think this is the economic story for the next few days.”
“If they want to take us into a shutdown, they’re going to own it,” he concluded.
House Republicans narrowly passed the funding resolution Tuesday with the help of just one Democrat. However, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced Wednesday that Democrats would not support the measure as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) did not seek Democratic input while crafting the bill.
DEMOCRATS WEIGH SHUTDOWN BLAME AFTER HOUSE ADVANCES CONTINUING RESOLUTION
Both sides engaged in weeks of budget talks, but Republicans drew a red line on guardrails Democrats wanted on Trump’s federal funding freeze.
“Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort,” Schumer said on the House floor. “Our caucus is unified on a clean, 30-day CR that will keep the government open and give Congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass. We should vote on that.”
