Scott Bessent serves as the Treasury Secretary of the United States. He was recently interviewed regarding the tariffs imposed by Trump on nations sending goods into the United States. Bessent noted that in order to understand Trumps’s actions you must realize that Trump, unlike most Republicans and Democrats, is laser focused on the workers in middle America.

Bessent spoke about how American workers took it on the chin during the free-trade years. The elite on the East and West coasts became rich while middle America lost jobs and many towns became hollowed out as factories were shuttered as their owners moved production overseas to get the benefit of cheap labor. “Wall Street did well but now Trump is going to focus on Main Street.”

Trump has instituted tariffs to help reindustrialize our economy. Bessent asked the question: “If tariffs are so bad, why does Europe have so many tariffs?”

Trump realizes that America is the great consumer and the world wants Americans to buy their manufactured goods that are produced overseas. Without the American consumer, the world would have no one to buy their manufactured goods. Trump is telling the world, manufacture in America the goods you want to sell to Americans or pay a tariff to ship the goods into the United States.

Look at China. They have the equivalent of “slave labor” that allows them to manufacture the goods very cheaply. They have caused many American manufacturing companies to go bankrupt.

The ultimate effect of this uneven playing field is that American high school graduates who do not have college degrees now have a life expectancy 7 years shorter than college graduates. Trump uniquely represents the working class that has been abandoned by the Democrat Party as the Democrats focus on supporting transgender studies.

While Trump’s tariffs will force foreign companies to eventually build factories in the United States and create jobs for middle class Americans, the tariffs will also bring more income to our nation’s budget. During Trump’s first term, he instituted tariffs on China that have added $200 billion to our Treasury.

The tariffs that Trump just announced, will add $300 to $600 billion a year to our Treasury. When you combine this additional income with the savings from the DOGE cuts, we start to balance our federal budget.

As foreign companies begin to manufacture more goods in the United States, the tariff revenue will drop. The new factories and the jobs created will take up the slack as the companies and workers pay federal taxes.

The tariff income is just half of the equation. The DOGE process is leading to a more efficient government that allows us to shed excess federal government employees and put them to work in the private sector. A more efficient federal government would be a benefit to all Americans.

Bessent noted that the system we have been operating under has NOT been working. Our federal deficits continue to increase and our government is extremely inefficient. “We have a Blockbuster government when the world is a Netflix economy.” No political party, Republican or Democrat, has been willing to take the steps to fix our inefficient government.

So many times in history we see evidence of problems only getting solved when there is a catastrophe. In the 1990s, the FAA asked the airlines to strengthen their cockpit doors. The airlines refused because the costs would be significant. 9-11 occurred and many Americans were killed and then the airlines strengthened their cockpit doors.

Trump is trying to strengthen the cockpit doors of our nation’s economy before we have a financial meltdown because of our debt. Sadly, the average Democrat cannot understand the need for drastic changes. Bessent noted that our nation’s financial health has been like a weight lifter who is taking steroids. The weightlifter may have big muscles, but his vital organs are failing because of the steroids. We have spent money recklessly and our economy is getting close to collapsing. Trump is the first politician of either party to tackle the issue.

Bessent believes that foreign companies will begin investing in American factories. Trump’s policies of decreasing regulations will make it easier for the foreign companies to invest in America. This will help provide jobs for the working class.

Trumps realizes that he cannot solely focus on the stock market. The top 10% of Americans own 88% of all stocks in this country. The next 40% of Americans own 12% of all the stocks in America. The bottom 50% do not own stocks but do have a lot of debt. These people have suffered as manufacturing jobs have left our country.

Bessent noted that during the summer of 2024, more Americans than ever vacationed in Europe. During the same summer of 2024, more Americans than ever visited food banks. These were not homeless people living on the streets. Many of these people have jobs but cannot afford to buy enough food to feed their families. These people have suffered while our country allowed our manufacturing jobs to be shipped overseas.

Trump is playing the long game by instituting these tariffs. He wants to bring back jobs for non-college graduates. For centuries, these workers were the backbone of our country as they worked at manufacturing jobs and raised their families and paid taxes. Trump is focused on bringing these jobs back and making our country financially strong.