May 28, 2026 - Economy

Treasury Secretary Bessent to warn about U.S. industrial base

Neil Irwin

Decades of failures by both political parties left the U.S. strategically vulnerable, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will argue in a speech Friday, and the Trump administration is focused on turning the tide.

Driving the news: Bessent's talk, titled "While America Slept," which invokes U.S. strategic failures before World War II, will argue that this has been an era of dangerous complacency and the deterioration of U.S. manufacturing strength, a Treasury official tells Axios.

Bessent will argue that Washington has excessively prioritized efficiency over resilience, making the American industrial base vulnerable.
Hollowed-out productive capacity in semiconductors, rare earths, medicines and defense goods is a strategic failure, Bessent will say, exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
He will say that the Trump administration will continue developing "trusted partner" supply chains with geopolitical allies, even amid diplomatic strains with many of those allies over tariffs, the Iran war and other friction points.

Of note: Other expected highlights from Friday's conference, at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, include sessions with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and SEC chair Paul Atkins.

Axios' Neil Irwin will moderate a session on "New Ideas for Invigorating American Growth" that includes San Francisco Fed president Mary Daly and Business Roundtable president Kristen Silverberg, among others.
It will all be livestreamed here.

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Treasury Secretary Bessent to warn about U.S. industrial base

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