The 62-year-old called before the Finance Committee of the Chamber of Congress to extend the tax cuts from Trump’s first term in office. If Congress doesn’t do this, the US could face the “largest tax increase in history” worth four trillion dollars (3.9 trillion euros), he warned.
Bessent also criticized that government spending and the public deficit were too high. There is no problem with revenue in the US federal budget, “we have a spending problem,” he emphasized.
The Treasury Secretary-designate also asserted that he supports the independence of the US Federal Reserve. The Fed should be “independent” when it comes to setting monetary policy, he said. Trump has repeatedly criticized the central bank’s course in the past. However, Bessent described media reports that Trump wants to influence the setting of the key interest rate as “highly incorrect.”
It is almost certain that Bessent will receive the Senate’s green light to take up the post of finance minister. The hearings of Trump’s nominees for ministerial positions and other important positions in the government apparatus by the Chamber of Congress began on Tuesday. Senate approval of the nominations is required.
In Washington, it is expected that Bessent will not least help shape Trump’s trade and customs policy, even if the Treasury Department is not directly responsible for this. Trump, who will be sworn in on Monday, sees tariffs as a central tool of trade policy. Bessent denied at the hearing that Trump’s planned tariff increases would lead to higher consumer prices in the United States.
Trump has announced that one of his first actions in office will be to increase tariffs on all goods from Mexico and Canada by 25 percent. Shortly after taking office, Trump wants to impose an additional tariff of ten percent on products from China, which will be added to existing tariffs from his first term in office. Trump has also threatened tariff surcharges on products from the European Union.
