LOS ANGELES — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday warned critics of President Donald Trump’s controversial tariff plans to “never bet against America” — despite some of the finance world’s heavyweights voicing fears that the trade war has made the US “merely exceptional.”
Bessent gave a full-throated defense of the commander-in-chief’s America First agenda in prepared remarks at the annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., predicting that Trump’s trade, deregulation and tax policies would unlock a “Golden Age” of economic prosperity.
“‘Never bet against America’ captures a time-tested truth. The US economy is unstoppable,” the Key Square Founder said.
“Throw whatever you will at our capital markets — the Great Depression, two World Wars, 9/11, a global recession, the COVID pandemic, or the last few years of sky-high inflation. Each time the American economy gets knocked down, it gets back up again. And it gets back up even stronger than it was before.”
Bessent’s comments came a day after he appeared at a rival reception event that went up against tariff-bashing Citadel boss Ken Griffin, who traditionally hosts the Milken event’s welcome party, as The Post exclusively reported.
On Monday, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan echoed Griffin’s concern that Trump’s tariff threats were hurting America’s image abroad.
“We have done damage to the US brand — the brand for stability, predictability, regularity, ” said Rowan, whose firm manages $785 billion in assets. “I see us moving from what was hyper-exceptionalism to merely exceptional.”
Citi CEO Jane Fraser said that tariffs of 25% and higher would be too much for businesses to absorb.
“Most companies are in a bit of limbo land, and in that investment spending, some of that is being suspended, some of the decisions on (capital expenditure) and hiring are on hold,” Fraser said.
“That will have an impact on demand and the economy.”.
Markets have been on a rollercoaster since Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” announcement in which he laid out his plans to slap a string of heavy levies on trading partners. He has since paused stiff reciprocal tariffs to negotiate trade deals — except for a 145% levy on China.
Bessent, 63, dismissed claims that the tariffs will hurt American families, saying that Trump will succeed in bringing jobs back to the US.
“Tariffs are engineered to encourage companies like yours to invest directly in the United States. Hire your workers here, build your factories here, make your products here,” he told the high-powered crowd on the opening day of the four-day Milken summit.
“You’ll be glad you did, not only because we have the most productive workforce in the world, but because we will soon have the most favorable tax and regulatory environment as well,”
But Steven Borrelli, the Trump-voting chief executive of Cuts Clothing, told The Post that e-commerce firms with huge exposure to China could potentially go under.
“We don’t have months to figure this out. We are operating right now under 145% tariffs. We didn’t stock up on inventory. We don’t have many months to hold out while these negotiations are ongoing.” Borrelli said.
“We are faced with a difficult dilemma. We either sell it as a loss or we don’t sell it at all,” the Los Angeles-based founder added. “Trump flipped off a switch, and there are lots of businesses that won’t make it. We are in favor of what he is doing, but not the way he is doing it.”
The 28th Milken Institute Global Conference, organized by a think tank endowed by former Drexel Burnham Lambert banker Michael Milken, aims to use free market principles to fix social problems.
It claims its “diverse, forward-thinking community” aims to explore solutions that pave the way for a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient future.
Milken, once considered Wall Street’s “Junk Bond King,” experienced a fall from grace after his 1989 indictment in an insider trading probe.
After pleading guilty to securities violations, he served about two years in prison and has since devoted his life to philanthropic efforts.
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