While America Slept -- Bessent's Remarks to the 2026 Reagan National Economic Forum

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Remarks by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent before the 2026 Reagan National Economic Forum: While America Slept
May 29, 2026

Thank you very much. It’s an honor to be here, and I’d like to thank the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute for inviting me to join you.

Of course, this year’s forum carries special significance as we celebrate 250 years of the American story.
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Somewhere along the way, we lost sight of a foundational principle that previous generations understood instinctively: economic security is national security, for a nation that cannot manufacture, mine, ship, or refine its needs gradually cedes its strength—and sovereignty—to others. That is a dangerous dependency for any country. It is an unacceptable one for the United States.
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As damaging was our willingness to extend strategic trust where it had not been earned. China’s accession to the WTO and the granting of Permanent Normal Trade Relations were sold to the American people as steps that would level markets and moderate behavior. Instead, we left our workers to compete against state-led subsidies, excess capacity, and practices that distort trade and undermine reciprocity.

We assumed the rules-based system would discipline these behaviors only to find that in too many sectors, it accommodated them.

And in the name of efficiency, we began to celebrate “just in time” while neglecting “just in case.”

The pandemic did not create our brittle supply chains so much as expose them.
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It does not mean retreating from the world. On the contrary, it means engaging with it on stronger, fairer, and more sustainable terms.

It does not mean severing ties indiscriminately. It means distinguishing healthy interdependence from dangerous overdependence.

It does not mean rejecting efficiency. It means refusing to worship efficiency when efficiency leaves our nation exposed.

And it does not mean treating allies and adversaries alike. It means bringing our trading relationships and our security relationships back into alignment by building supply chains with trusted partners where appropriate, rebuilding capacity at home where necessary, and ensuring that the economic architecture supporting American power strengthens American security.
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Under President Trump, we have awoken to morning again in America. And our best days, I believe, still lie ahead.

Thank you all. I look forward to exploring these themes further in conversation with Larry.

Thank you.

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