On Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent outlined the key elements of President Donald Trump’s “America First Vision” while addressing a gathering of international investors about the outlook for the U.S. economy.
“We have uprooted government waste and harmful regulations. We have planted the seeds of private investment. And we have fertilized the ground with fresh tax legislation. Next, we harvest. And we want you to harvest with us,” Bessent stated during his speech at the Milken Institute Global Conference.
Bessent identified tariffs, tax cuts, and deregulation as the three fundamental aspects of Trump’s economic strategy, mirroring an op-ed he published earlier in The Wall Street Journal on the same day.
While the op-ed emphasized the importance of supporting both Main Street and Wall Street, Bessent’s remarks at the Milken conference appeared more directly aimed at an elite audience of affluent investors and entrepreneurs.
“The administration’s goal is to make it even more appealing for investors like you,” he asserted.
As Bessent spoke, investors were keenly anticipating news from high-stakes negotiations currently taking place with various trading partners, which the administration claims are progressing steadily behind the scenes.
Trump has claimed that many countries are eager to engage in deals with the U.S., leveraging this narrative to justify his recent decision to significantly roll back the reciprocal tariff plan shortly after its inception.
The President paused most of the high tariff rates announced just a week earlier, which he had termed America’s “liberation day.” Instead, he introduced a blanket 10% tariff while increasing the import tax on China to an effective 145%.
Since this pause, the Trump administration has indicated that a series of restructured trade agreements with various countries are forthcoming.
In a recent interview, Trump claimed to have “made 200 deals,” forecasting their completion within three weeks. Meanwhile, Peter Navarro, the administration’s top trade advisor, suggested that the U.S. could finalizing 90 deals within a 90-day window.
However, more than three weeks after scaling back the tariff changes, no new trade agreements have been formally announced. Nonetheless, officials have hinted that significant progress is being made toward a deal with India, whose Prime Minister Narendra Modi is known to have established a close rapport with Trump and recently met with Vice President JD Vance to address trade matters.
This story is developing; please check back for updates.
