Bessent assured that the revenue from the tariffs will be used primarily to pay down the national debt
The Treasury secretary spoke to CNBC's "Squawk Box" program, where he also addressed Donald Trump's nominees to head the Federal Reserve (Fed).
Bessent in the Oval Office/ Allison Robbert.
Scott Bessent assured that the tariff revenue will go primarily to pay down the national debt. The Treasury secretary spoke to CNBC's "Squawk Box" program, where he also referred to Donald Trump's nominees to lead the Federal Reserve (Fed), to succeed Jerome Powell.
Recently, the Treasury Department reported that the national debt had reached a record number, standing at $37 trillion. According to the Peterson Foundation, the debt per person is $108,000.
In this context, Bessent referred to the tariff revenue projections, stressing that this money will be used to lower the debt, and initially not to pay it back in the form of checks to Americans, as President Trump had suggested.
Economy
La deuda nacional superó los $37 billones (trillion), según el Departamento del Tesoro
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"I've been saying that tariff revenue could be $300 billion this year. I'm going to have to revise that up substantially. We're going to bring down the deficit to GDP. We'll start paying down the debt, and then at that point that can be used as an offset to the American people," he told host Joe Kernen.
He further added that he had not spoken to the president about the idea of spreading the money around, but did remark that both he and the president are"totally focused" on lowering the debt. He also referred to the failure to lower interest rates, blaming them for hitting especially the housing sector and low-income households with high credit card debt.
On potential candidates to replace Powell at the helm of the Fed, he said he will start meeting with them after Labor Day. "In terms of the interview process, we've announced 11 very strong candidates. I'm going to be meeting with them probably right after Labor Day, and to start bringing down the list to present to President Trump. It's an incredible group," he noted.
According to CNBC, the candidates include Michelle Bowman, Christopher Waller, Lorie Logan, Kevin Hassett, Kevin Warsh, Rick Rieder, David Zervos, Marc Sumerlin, Larry Lindsey and James Bullard.
Bessent himself was rumored as one of the possible contenders for the position, but he ruled himself out in a meeting with President Trump.
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