Treasury secretary defends tariffs, says cheap goods not 'essence of the American Dream'
Source: USA Today
Published 3:16 p.m. ET Mar. 7, 2025
WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday defended President Donald Trump’s assertive stance on tariffs, arguing that "access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American Dream.”
His comments come after Trump had imposed steep 25% tariffs on all goods imported from Mexico and Canada earlier this week. Trump then took executive action delaying new tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico that fell under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement for one month. Economic experts have argued that tariffs could increase the price of American goods. But Bessent dismissed concerns about raised prices during a speech at the Economic Club of New York.
“The American Dream is rooted in the concept that any citizen can achieve prosperity, upward mobility, and economic security. For too long, the designers of multilateral trade deals have lost sight of this. International economic relations that do not work for the American people must be reexamined,” he said.
He added that "to the extent that another country’s practices harm our own economy and people, the United States will respond." "This is the America First trade policy,” he said.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/03/07/scott-bessent-trump-tariffs-american-dream-goods-prices/81943904007/
Says the former hedge fund manager (meaning he never paid "income tax" but capital gains tax since his "managing" payments were not "a salary" but some cut of the funds he managed) worth hundreds of millions.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Nice going guys! 
