Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that the underlying conditions in the economy are stable and there is no reason why the U.S. should enter into a recession.
Maria Bartiromo asked Bessent on "Mornings with Maria" to clarify his comments made Sunday on NBC News' "Meet the Press" where Kristin Welker sought a guarantee from Bessent there would not be an economic downturn. "The other day, you were asked a question by another outlet: Can you guarantee that we're not going to have a recession?" Bartiromo asked.
"Yeah. Well, look, it was a silly question. Can you guarantee there is not going to be a recession? I can't guarantee anything. I can't guarantee that the journalist who asked me the question that her news program is going to be on in a year," Bessent answered. "But, what I can guarantee you is that there is no reason we need to have a recession," he continued.
Markets have reacted strongly to the fluctuating trade policies of the Trump administration, most specifically the ever-changing tariff policies which some have described as market whiplash. Bessent dismissed the naysayers and said there are signs of stability. "The economy in the first quarter is doing better than the media is reporting," he said. "I think we're seeing some very good underlying data from credit card companies, from banks. I think that the airlines, which reported some bad passenger numbers, a big amount of that is from federal employees who are not flying right now.
Bessent praised the administration's efforts to curtail government spending and stressed Trump's long-term goal remains to bring back America's domestic manufacturing base. "Could we have a pause as we go from this incredible level of government spending, which is just unsustainable? You know, I said on the show, what I could guarantee was, if we kept going the way we were, we would have been in a financial crisis, and President Trump has put the brakes on this," Bessent said. "We are going to get this spending under control. We are going to bring manufacturing back home, and we are going to make the country more affordable for working Americans."
"So, the underlying economy is healthy," he said adding again, "There is no reason we have to have a recession."