U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff plans are largely aimed at bringing manufacturing back to the United States, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday, singling out medical supplies and shipbuilding as targeted sectors.
Bessent said Trump was pursuing different strategies with different tariffs, noting recent tariff threats against Colombia, Mexico and Canada were aimed at ensuring action by those governments on issues such as immigration.
Overall, however, he said tariffs were focused on helping reestablish manufacturing in the United States in key sectors, which should boost corporate revenues and ultimately result in declining income from the tariffs themselves.
Bessent added that he wants to drive wages higher to address affordability challenges for Americans by increasing energy production, making expiring tax cuts permanent and energizing private sector growth in the economy.
"We're going to bring down inflation, we're going to cut regulations and we are going to get the tax cuts," Bessent said. "The goal is still for them to be made permanent."
Bessent said while President Donald Trump wants lower interest rates, he will not ask the Federal Reserve to cut rates. If the economy is deregulated with more private sector investment, "interest rates will take care of themselves and the dollar will take care of itself."