Scott Bessent

Treasury Secretary, US Treasury

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent & Fox Business Anchor Maria Bartiromo | World Economic Forum 2026

🎥 Jan 20, 2026 📺 Diya TV ⏱ 36m 👁 6527 views

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About Scott Bessent

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has promoted the Trump administration’s economic record, citing strong job growth and tax policies. In a June 2026 interview, he said the U.S. created 900,000 private-sector jobs since President Trump took office and described the past three months of job creation as “a blowout,” with 170,000 to 180,000 jobs per month. He attributed a manufacturing “rebirth” to tariffs and tax policy, and said core inflation had surprised on the downside at 2%. Bessent also expressed confidence that energy prices would decline once the conflict with Iran is resolved, stating that oil was already 25 to 30 percent off its peak. Bessent joined First Lady Melania Trump in June 2026 to announce “Fostering the Future” accounts, a savings and investment vehicle for foster youth. He described the accounts as part of the broader “Trump accounts” program, which provides a $1,000 seed contribution from the Treasury for every child born between January 2025 and December 2028. Bessent said that, assuming historical growth rates, the deposit could grow to at least $500,000 by retirement. He stated that the program aims to give foster children the same opportunity for asset ownership and long-term wealth building as other children, and that it would help ensure their futures are shaped by possibilities rather than circumstances. During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing, Bessent defended the administration’s tax cuts, including provisions eliminating taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security benefits, and said 62 million Americans claimed at least one of those provisions. He also faced questions from Democratic lawmakers about the economic impact of tariffs, the IRS settlement with President Trump, and the administration’s budget deficit projections.

Source: AI-verified profile updated from Scott Bessent's recent appearances. Browse all interviews →

Transcript (66 segments)

✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution

Unknown0:24

Okay, I got it.

Host0:36

Good morning everyone. Thank you so much for joining us for this conversation with the Treasury Secretary of the United States, Scott Bessent.

Scott Bessent0:51

Good to be with you.

Host0:53

It's great to see you, Secretary. Thank you so much for sitting down with us. We so appreciate it and there's so much to talk about. We are going to be rolling on this live in about 20 seconds on Fox. So we want to make sure that everyone knows that this is a live program and we will be taking this as it is happening with the secretary this morning. I know there's a lot of conversation this morning about President Trump's considerations and thoughts about Greenland and we will get into that as well as the US economy and the global economy as well. So, Secretary, there's so much to cover. Let me kick it off right now with just that because I want to talk about trade and tariffs. It seems that the president certainly has set the tone before he even arrives tomorrow. So, I will get your thoughts on that as well as AI about the NATO alliance as well as the macro story. And I will also bring up something that you mentioned earlier, which is the Draghi report. The reason that I'm strolling here is because I wanted the programming to catch up with us. Okay. So that we could begin live at 8:30 and in fact we are beginning right now. Thank you so much everyone for joining us. I'm sitting now with the US Treasury Secretary. Secretary, let me begin on trade and tariffs because President Trump seemed to set the tone of conversation even before he has arrived by threatening tariffs on our European allies until they support his plans to acquire Greenland. How do you justify taking over a country when in fact Denmark and Greenland have said they are not interested?

Scott Bessent2:26

Well, Maria, I think the president has a very strong view on Western Hemispheric security and believes that the US should not outsource our national security. He believes that Greenland is essential for the Golden Dome Missile Shield. And also, the president, as usual, it's the move after the move. As part of NATO, I think the president is worried that if there were an incursion into Greenland, the US would be called upon to defend Greenland. Greenland is becoming more and more attractive for foreign conquest, and he very strongly believes that it must be part of the United States to prevent a conflict rather than getting the US engaged ex post into a hot conflict.

Host3:21

So Greenland is not expected to be able to have the capacity to stop any potential missiles that could hit the United States. In other words, Greenland without US ownership makes the United States vulnerable. Is that the president's main complaint?

Scott Bessent3:37

Well, I think it's that and that there's the opportunity for the US to become embroiled ex post into a kinetic war if another country moved in on Greenland. And no country is going to assert control over Greenland if the US controls Greenland.

Host4:00

Secretary, what do you want to say about the response here? The European Union is pushing back saying we are not going to complete our trade deal with the United States because of this. They have already called an emergency summit for later on in the week about this Greenland situation.

Scott Bessent4:17

Well, I would say exactly what I said after Liberation Day last April when the president imposed tariff levels on the whole world. I tell everyone, sit back, take a deep breath, do not retaliate. Do not retaliate. The president will be here tomorrow and he will get his message across. I believe he is going to have meetings and again also have an open mind. Why this rapid response? This is a no, and by the way Maria, this has been in the minds of American presidents for more than 150 years.

Host5:02

So the vulnerability was seen even back then.

Scott Bessent5:05

Well, or the strategic value of Greenland. And I think as there are more trade routes that move near Greenland, Greenland becomes more and more valuable.

Host5:16

Secretary, we're already seeing a reaction from markets. You've got rates spiking in the United States, up seven basis points on the 10-year right now. You've got rates spiking in Japan. What do you want to say about this market reaction that we're seeing?

Scott Bessent5:29

Well, Maria, I think it's very difficult to disaggregate the market reaction from what's going on endogenously in Japan. So Japan over the past two days has had a six standard deviation move in their bond market. That would be what has happened in the Japanese JGB 10-year would be the equivalent of a 50 basis point move in US 10-year. So I think it's very difficult to disaggregate what the spillover from Japan is. I've been in touch with my economic counterparts in Japan and I am sure that they will begin saying the things that will calm the market down.

Host6:14

So what are the plans for tariffs on Europe then?

Scott Bessent6:18

Well, we're in the midst of completing a very good trade deal for both sides. So the plan is to go ahead with the trade deal. Of course, the president has said that on February 1st he will implement a 10% tariff if the Danes do not want to give up Greenland, and it is on the eight countries that sent troops to Greenland.

Host6:48

So what do you want to say about the NATO alliance then? I mean Denmark has been a long ally, the European Union united against any move. How do you progress with what looks like a strategic move for the United States, but also preserve the NATO alliance?

Scott Bessent7:04

Well, look, I think that the NATO alliance is very safe and sound, and thanks to President Trump, it's never been more secure. When President Trump came in in his first term, the European countries and Canada were not meeting their spending quote as percent of GDP. Now they are. They have a lot of catch-up to do. And Maria, to put it in perspective, the United States of America since 1980 has contributed $22 trillion more dollars, or spent $22 trillion more dollars on defense than all of NATO. So roughly the same size population and we have spent $22 trillion more. That is two-thirds of our outstanding government debt. Europeans have been spending the money on social welfare, on roads, on education, and it's time for them to pay more, which they've agreed to do.

Host8:05

Yeah. Many of them have already stepped up like Poland.

Scott Bessent8:08

Everyone has except Spain.

Host8:10

Okay. And do you not feel that a security deal in the Arctic would suffice in terms of Greenland? Well, I think what we're seeing, with a base that we have shared with the UK for many years, the UK is signing the island over to Mauritius. So again, I can see why the president believes that for US engagement, we do not want another Diego Garcia on our hands. This is a very important point that you make. In terms of tariffs, how much money has been generated from tariffs already? Certainly, the hysteria over President Trump's tariffs have died down since April of last year. What is the total running rate right now?

Scott Bessent8:59

Yeah, it's in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Maria. For the fiscal year which ends September 30th, we had a fiscal contraction. For the calendar year, we had a very large fiscal contraction, so we cut the deficit by about $200 billion. The important number is the deficit to GDP. So calendar year 2024 was 6.9%, the highest we've ever had. We inherited a mess. 6.9%, the highest we've ever had when the US was not at war or not in a recession. So 6.9%. Calendar year 2025, 5.4%. I have called for getting that number down to 3% by the end of President Trump's term and I think we're on the way.

Host9:51

So you've been using that tariff money to pay down the deficit then.

Scott Bessent9:54

It feeds into the general account and it's been a big part of it. And again, last year the US 10-year bond was down about 40 basis points. I believe France was up about 40 or 50. Germany was up 50 or 60. The US bond market had its best performing year since 2020. And again, back to your point that after Liberation Day, April, May, it's the end of the world, the world's going to sell US assets. Just the opposite happened. As Treasury Secretary, I can see who the buyers are of our bonds and we had more foreign participation than ever.

Host10:43

And just to be clear, a moment ago when I asked you about the market reaction, you don't think markets rates are spiking on this Greenland story. You think that what's happening in Japan is specific to Japan.

Scott Bessent10:55

Well, I think the Japan situation, the market there again had a six standard deviation move and that was happening before any of the Greenland news. And I think the rest of the world, German rates are up, French rates are up, Japanese rates are up a tremendous amount.

Host11:17

Secretary, I want to get to the macro story in a moment, but let me stay on tariffs for one moment because we could be hearing from the Supreme Court imminently. And of course, the Supreme Court will issue a ruling on the president's use of tariffs during a quote emergency, the IEEPA reason that you've actually issued some of these tariffs. What are your expectations for the Supreme Court? We could hear from them this morning or even tomorrow morning. If they rule against you, what are the alternatives to raise that kind of revenue, hundreds of billions of dollars that you've already been able to do?

Scott Bessent11:47

Well, Maria, I think it's very unlikely that the Supreme Court is going to strike down a president's signature economic policy. It didn't early on with the ACA, also known as Obamacare. It reinforced that recently. And the real problem here is President Trump has used IEEPA for negotiating leverage for geopolitics in emergency situations. If we look back, the first IEEPA tariffs were fentanyl tariffs on Mexico, on Canada, on China. And if fentanyl is not a national emergency, I don't know what is. 100, 200,000 Americans dying every year. And because of that, Mexico came to the table. Canada came to the table. China, who exports the precursor drugs, all came to the table and we're seeing a substantial drop and protecting the American people. On October 8th, the Chinese government announced rare earth export controls on the entire world, not just the US, which would have caused an industrial meltdown. President Trump threatened 100% tariffs on China if they did this. My Chinese counterpart, who has been a very good interlocutor, had gone quiet for a couple of days. The Chinese immediately came to the table and they rolled the export controls out a year. And President Trump insisted that I negotiate on behalf of the whole world. So in terms of the US leading, this is what US leadership looks like. He was able to use IEEPA tariffs to negotiate for the entire industrial world. So I think it's very important here.

Host13:41

I'm glad you mentioned China. I'm going to come back to China, but while we're here, what is the latest timetable on the much anticipated bilateral trade deal with China?

Scott Bessent13:52

I had a meeting with my Chinese counterpart here in Davos last night, Vice Premier He Lifeng. He told me that just this week they have completed their soybean purchases and we're looking forward to next year's 25 million tons. I suggested maybe he'd want to buy a little more because President Trump always brings that up when they speak. And they've done everything that they said they're going to do.

Host14:25

Are they having rare earth magnets flow or are they putting restrictions on that? Because there were reports last year that the Chinese were saying we will send the rare earth but we're not sending them to any companies that are tied to the defense sector and the US military.

Scott Bessent14:40

They are flowing as expected. We are at a fulfillment rate that's in the 90s, which I think is quite satisfactory.

Host14:49

So they didn't stop even if it's a defense company because I believe they tried to do that with Japan as well.

Scott Bessent14:54

Well, Japan and China have gotten into a skirmish over some remarks that the Japanese prime minister made. So the US is immune from that.

Host15:06

Okay, let's talk macro. The US economy seems to have been doing much better than many expected. We had a 4.3% read in GDP last quarter. How would you assess the United States economy?

Scott Bessent15:17

I think that it is very strong and likely accelerating. And Maria, just to be clear, that 4.3% GDP was private sector GDP. After the fiscal contraction, the real number was 4.7. The government contracted by 0.4, so that got us to 4.3. So that is pure private sector GDP. And President Trump's economic policy, tax deals, trade deals, and deregulation, which I think is probably the most powerful part, is really just starting to kick in now. So we had the tax deal, one big beautiful bill done on July 4th, which no one said could be done, and it contains the full expensing for US corporates on equipment, for factories, for structures. On the other side, for working Americans, the president's signature policies: no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on social security, interest deductibility, auto loans if you buy an American car. So we're seeing this wonderful balance between industrial America and Main Street America. I am also the IRS commissioner and we did not change the withholding guidance. So we're going to see, as commissioner, I can see they're going to be very substantial tax refunds coming to working Americans in the first quarter. They'll change their withholding. They'll get a bump up in real incomes because of the expensing. We're seeing 12, 14% capex growth in the US. And historically, you have never seen a capex boom without seeing employment follow.

Host17:07

Yeah, you've got a capex boom and a pro productivity boom as well. 4.7% is much better than so many people expected last year. Are you expecting the economy to at one point hit 5% as well?

Scott Bessent17:19

Well, the Atlanta Fed GDPNow number, which is a very noisy number, is now reading 5.3. Because remember, the fourth quarter GDP included the Schumer shutdown. So some of that will be pushed into the first quarter. So I'm expecting that we could be well north of 3% and we'll have inflation coming down. As you said, productivity is very high. And we have measured inflation and observed inflation. With the observed inflation, I think we can see that prices are already down and that will trickle into the CPI and the PCE which the Fed looks at.

Host18:04

Well, it's a good point because there is still a perception that prices are still high.

Scott Bessent18:10

Well, prices are high. The Biden administration was a wipeout for working Americans. The price level increased by 21, 22, 23%. But our friend Jason Trennert at Strategas has something called the Common Man Index, and that is what do working Americans buy: a basket of groceries, insurance, rent, car payments. And that was up in the mid-30s. So very difficult, other than with energy. The president, through drill, baby, drill, has gotten gasoline prices down. We're below $2 in many states. The national average is below $3, even if you throw in the outlier of California. So we can get down. And we are working every day to get things down. And affordability is two pieces: affordability is price level, but it's real incomes. Real incomes have gone up every month since President Trump took office. And as I said, I think we're going to see a big year for real incomes this year.

Host19:18

Wow. And you said in terms of the tax refunds, are we talking about thousands of dollars that people will be getting?

Scott Bessent19:24

For working families, for each wage earner, we could see up to $1,000 per wage earner.

Host19:31

Okay. You said that prices are still coming down, but they're still elevated. The president announced many things, a litany of things just in the last 100 days. And I want you to walk through some of these things and tell us why they're important. Because he put a ban on large institutional investors purchasing single family homes. He asked for $200 billion purchases of mortgage backed securities. And he put on a proposal for a 10% cap on credit card interest rates. We know credit card interest rates are always soaring up, 28, 30% in some cases. That's going to cut into earnings of the bank certainly. And he also teased something about 401(k)s that you would be able to tap into your 401(k) to then buy a home. Walk us through these things. Why are these so key in your view to growth and to reigning in prices?

Scott Bessent20:19

Well, why don't we start from the beginning? The first thing was the ban on large institutional investors purchasing single family homes and the purchase of mortgage backed securities. So the ban on institutional investors in single family homes. For those of you who are not American, in the US pre-Great Financial Crisis, institutional investors did not participate in the single family market. So post the financial crisis, institutional investors hoovered up single family homes. They continue to do it. And there's an unfair tax arbitrage there. You and I have a mortgage. We can deduct the mortgage amount. Institutional investors can deduct the borrowing amount, but they can also expense any repairs and depreciation. So we think that it is a good idea to have them out of the market. We're going to give guidance at some point to see what is a mom and pop, someone maybe your parents for their retirement have bought 5, 10, 12 homes. So we don't want to push the mom and pops out. We just want to push everyone else out. And what's important here, you will hear some misinformation that says institutional investors are 1, 2, 3%. That is true. Having been in markets for 35 or 40 years, markets are made on the margin, and institutional investors are much higher in boomtown markets like Charlotte, like Atlanta, like Huntsville, Alabama. So they've done that. In terms of having Fannie and Freddie buy MBS, the mortgages are two parts: it is the 10-year bond yield and it is the spread between mortgages and the 10-year yield. So the purpose of that is to narrow the spread.

Host22:20

Okay. The cap on credit card rates is expected to cut into bank earnings between 5 and 18%. Your reaction?

Scott Bessent22:29

We've done a lot this year. Bank stocks are at a new high. Through my position on FSOC, the Financial Stability Oversight Council, and the three bank regulators, the Federal Reserve, the OCC, the FDIC, we have done a lot to deregulate banks. Their earnings are way up. More importantly, it has increased their lending capacity. Oliver Wyman's numbers, not mine, estimates that there's $2.5 trillion of extra lending capacity. The other thing that has been a focus of this administration and a focus of mine is small and community banks. Because what happened after the Great Financial Crisis, all the regulations from Dodd-Frank, we had too big to fail, but then with small banks you were too small to succeed. This regulatory morass, we have lost more than 50% of the small and community banks. And they are our small business lending, real estate lending, and ag lending. So we are trying to bring that back.

Host23:37

Yeah, it's a great point because farmers really need the lending of these small community banks. Look, Secretary, I want to get your take overall on your thoughts on what you've done so far. Because the president back last year, right after the inauguration, I sat down with the president and I asked him what he wants the economy to look like in four years when he's done. And he was very clear. He said he wants private enterprise to rule the day. One year later, you've taken a 10% stake in Intel. You've taken a stake in MP. Now, I know that these are national security issues. And the other day, the president told the defense contractors, don't pay dividends. Don't buy back any of your stock. You need to be fulfilling what the country needs in terms of producing a weapon. So what do you want to say to people who say, 'Look, here is a so-called capitalist president and a treasury secretary, and yet it's not private enterprise running things. The president is telling the defense contractors what to do, and you've taken stakes in these companies.'

Scott Bessent24:34

A couple of things, Maria. I think the only good thing that came from COVID was it was a test run for what would happen if our supply chains were ever broken due to a kinetic war. So we saw that there are five, six, seven key industries that we have to reshore. Everything you just said, rare earth magnets, we've got to get out from under China's grasp, the semiconductors. I would say that the single biggest threat to the world economy, the single biggest point of single failure, is that 97% of the high-end chips are made in Taiwan. If that island were blockaded, that capacity were destroyed, it would be an economic apocalypse. So we are reshoring the semiconductor industry to the US. With the defense contractors, the defense contractors are no different than the systemically important banks. They exist like the systemically important banks exist because of the backstop from the Fed, because of the regulations. And these defense contractors have let down the American people. They have let down the American people. They are five, six, seven years behind on fulfillment of their contracts, and they exist because of the US Department of War. So I do not think it is unreasonable to tell them that until further notice, you need to build more factories and buy back less stock. And by the way, Maria, these CEOs making $30, $50 million a year for failing the American people. So I don't see any discrepancy there. And as you said, everything on your list is national defense. So once they get to some normalized level of backlog, I don't know whether it's two years, three years, then we can talk about removing those restrictions.

Host26:42

So what you're saying is you want private enterprise to lead the day, but when it comes to national security, the government will be a shareholder. And again, a lot of this isn't private. You know, we have seen what happens when the free markets get kind of perverted. Because what happens with critical minerals, several companies have tried to stand up critical minerals facilities in the US and the Chinese come, lower price, undercut them, and then they're bankrupt. So we have to put in a system of price floors and price ceilings. And when you talk about multilateralism and the US leading, I just hosted at Treasury last Monday the G7 plus, so G7 plus Australia plus India plus Mexico plus South Korea, and we are working at warp speed to create a critical minerals block where we can mine, process, and refine critical minerals and China won't have this sword over our heads.

So how long do you think it will be until the United States is in fact independent in terms of the refinement of these minerals, independent in terms of oil, etc.? I mean, I know that the US could be, is the largest producer anyway, but do you expect this year, next year, what's your timetable in terms of the US not relying on China for these things?

Scott Bessent28:14

Well, obviously for energy we are independent. We're an energy superpower. And I would say 18 to 24 months. I went down about two months ago to my home state of South Carolina, and in South Carolina for the first time in 25 years there's a producer there who made rare earth magnets. So they are starting to come off. The supply chain, they believe that within two years they can fulfill most of the rare earth magnet needs for the US. And then we also want to help our allies because the supply chain is important.

Host28:57

What do you want to say about sanctions? Something else you've been working on, of course. What are you planning there in terms of Iran and the impact there? Do sanctions actually work? And the same question with regard to 500% secondary sanctions or tariffs on countries who purchase energy products from Russia.

Scott Bessent29:16

Okay, so two things there. There are Treasury sanctions. And if you look at a speech that I gave at the Economic Club of New York last March, I said that I believe the Iranian currency was on the verge of collapse. That if I were an Iranian citizen, I would take my money out. President Trump ordered Treasury and our OFAC division, Office of Foreign Assets Control, to put maximum pressure on Iran, and it's worked. Because in December their economy collapsed. We saw a major bank go under. The central bank has started to print money. There is a dollar shortage. They are not able to get imports, and this is why the people took to the street. So this is economic statecraft. No shots fired. And things are moving in a very positive way here. On the 500% tariffs on the buyers of Russian oil, that is a proposal that Senator Graham has in front of the Senate, and we will see whether that passes. We don't believe that President Trump needs that authority, that he can do it under IEEPA, but the Senate wants to give him that authority. And just to be clear, we have Europe buying Russian oil still, four years later. They are financing the war against themselves. India started buying Russian oil after the conflict began, but President Trump put a 25% tariff on them, and India has geared down and has stopped buying Russian oil. And then three, China is a very large buyer of Russian oil, as they are of Iranian oil, as they were of Venezuelan oil. But guess what, Maria? No more Venezuelan oil for them.

Host31:13

So would you treat China the same as the others in terms of buying Russian oil with regard to tariffs and sanctions?

Scott Bessent31:20

Well, we'll see what happens with this Senate bill and with the Iranian oil. That'll be up to President Trump.

Host31:30

Secretary, what do you want to say about artificial intelligence and the idea that AI efficiencies will likely kill jobs? A lot of people are worried about jobs. Do we have a plan in the US government right now in terms of job creation in the face of AI efficiency killing jobs?

Scott Bessent31:46

Well, Maria, we are seeing record factory groundbreakings. That's why President Trump wants to bring back these precision jobs to the US. And historically, every productivity boom has led to job growth. Now, can there be some toing and froing in terms of people changing professions? I can't remember what the number is. Maybe you know it. 50, 60% of the professions today didn't exist 30 years ago.

Host32:25

Well, it's a big number. Technology...

Scott Bessent32:27

It's a big number, but it is something we're very cognizant of. We haven't seen it in the numbers yet. I think that it could be very different than what we saw with the China shock. The China shock was a blue collar phenomenon. My guess is the AI shock might be a white collar phenomenon. We'll see.

Host32:48

Secretary, as we wrap up here, a moment ago you said, look, you've been dealing with markets for a long time, your entire career. What do you think of markets today? I mean, the market has been rallying on the president's policy. Today, of course, we're seeing a sell-off, but do you think the markets are getting it right in terms of rallying on the president's policies going into this Davos meeting?

Scott Bessent33:09

I try not to. To the extent I had success in the markets, it was not making short-term predictions. But I can tell you what has been very heartening for me. I don't have time to follow the markets as closely, but to the extent last year, year before, everyone said, 'Oh, this is just Mag 7 stocks. It's not healthy.' We've seen a big broadening out in the market. The Russell index, the smaller cap stocks, has outperformed. The S&P equal weight has outperformed. And I actually think that speaks to the economic recovery. We're seeing it across all sectors. Our friend Ed Hyman at ISI does these corporate surveys. Corporate surveys are the highest that they've been since June 22. And I think you're starting to see it in all sectors of the market. And the market follows the economy. And again, I just think that we have the best place in the world. Come build your factory. You have tax certainty, you have regulatory certainty, and you have energy certainty.

Host34:17

And of course, deregulation. And that was one point that I wanted to make before we wrap up here. Mario Draghi wrote a report two years ago about regulation in Europe and the fact that the largest market cap company in Europe is Novo Nordisk because of Ozempic, about $400 billion or so. And we just saw Nvidia in the United States hit $5 trillion.

Scott Bessent34:37

Well, clearly, Maria, the innovation, the change, and the ability to adapt is in the US. The US is the innovation capital of the world. I don't think anything's going to change that. I was just asked in another meeting by some business leaders, what advice would you give to Europe? And I said I would operationalize the Draghi report. Because the EU was supposed to cut down on red tape, but it has logarithmically increased it. When I talk to tech executives, they will tell me it is easier doing business in China than the EU.

Host35:16

Wow.

Scott Bessent35:17

That's not a great stat. I had a European businessman come to see me the other day. He said, 'Secretary Bessent, it took me three days to get an appointment with the White House and with you. It took me 90 days to get an appointment with Ursula von der Leyen, and we are one of the largest employers in Europe.' So there's just a different mindset here. And I think the mindset has got to change. It's got to change to a growth mentality. And that's President Trump's invitation: we are growing. We're deregulating. Come and join us. The US is going to host the G20 meeting next year, and on the finance track, we have identified the greatest financial risk as a lack of growth. Because post-COVID, every government balance sheet has ballooned and we have this gigantic government debt. There are two ways: you can either cut your way out of it through austerity, no voter wants that, or you can grow your way out of it. So we are inviting the world: come grow with us, prosper with us, and we can all do it together.

Host36:30

Secretary, thank you very much. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Thank you so much.

Scott Bessent36:35

Thanks for having me.